LIFE AND HABITS 25 



vertical ridges on the sides and neck and irregular ridges 

 across the flank, giving it the appearance of a very deep 

 plush or imitation fur. On the neck just below the ears 

 and also under the throat are large glands, which are 

 swollen only at this time of the year. In some instances, 

 these glands are so large as to distort the neck and detract 

 greatly from the appearance of the stag.' (This will be 

 noticed in several of the illustrations.) All of these signs 

 proclaim the mating season. Another sign is the curious 

 habit the animal has of standing for long periods in an 

 attitude of absolute dejection, the object of which is 

 difficult to understand. At such times his head is held 

 low, so that from the bent neck the long fringe of hair 

 practically touches the ground. As a rule, the ears droop 

 and the hind quarters are drawn slightly forward, almost 

 like an animal standing tail to a snowstorm. Occasionally, 



' Whether these visible swellings are in any way connected with the glands 

 which are described by Mr. J. G. Millais in his " Newfoundland and Its 

 Untrodden Ways," 1 do not know ; his own words should, perhaps, be given 

 so that the reader will understand the subject more clearly : — 



"In 1906 I (Mr. Millais) made the interesting discovery, which is, I think, 

 new to zoologists, namely, that the Caribou stag sometimes possesses a sac 

 containing hair in the throat skin. On October 20th, I killed a very large old 

 stag near Shoe Hill, and whilst removing the neck skin, my knife slipped and 

 disclosed a very curious sac about five inches long and two broad ; this 

 contained growing hair on the inner skin, and the cavity was full ot a mass of 

 compressed hair soaking in a watery mucus. This skin bag was situated in a 

 thin vellum of the inner skin in the region of the upper throat. The Indians 

 call the little bag ' Piduateh,' and the few white men who know of its existence, 

 the ' Toler ' (i.e., crier or bell), so that it may have some affinity to the long 

 throat appendage found on the Moose and known as the 'bell.' In the case of 

 the Caribou, the hair sac is internal with hair growing inwards, whilst in the 

 Moose the ornament is a long piece of hardened skin covered with hair, which 

 hangs from the centre of the throat. The Indians told me that this sac is only 

 found in one in fifty Caribou, generally in the males, and that it is sometimes 

 found in the inside skin of the cheek. The existence of this curious attachment 

 has not been previously noticed. It seems to be useless, and can possess none 

 of the functions of a gland." 



