26 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



the head shakes sideways in an impatient manner, but often 

 the animal stands immovable for as much as an hour 

 seemingly oblivious to all that is going on. A doe may 

 suddenly attract his attention, when a great transformation 

 takes place with startling rapidity. With head held high, 

 nostrils dilated, and eyes flashing, he regards the fair one 

 intently. At such a time the Caribou stag should be seen 

 to be thoroughly appreciated, for then he is truly an object 

 of beauty, altogether different from the drawings we so 

 often see or the miserable, sick-looking specimens which 

 from time to time appear in Zoological Gardens, where 

 they linger a few months growing more and more ugly, 

 until they succumb to conditions which they find intoler- 

 able and which always lead to illness. 



As the subject of the mating is gone into with such 

 detail in the following chapter, I shall not dwell too long 

 on it here. The season of the rut usually lasts about two 

 or three weeks, beginning under ordinary conditions during 

 the first week in October. Unless a heavy fall of snow 

 takes place unduly early or some other cause beyond 

 our knowledge intervenes, the Caribou remain some- 

 where near their summer quarters up in the higher lands 

 until this season has passed. It is on this account that 

 so few men ever see the animals at their best, as most of 

 the hunting is done during the migration or soon after. 

 In the mating season the stags become masters of small 

 bands of does, numbering from two or three up to a 

 limit of about twenty ; the common number for a mature 

 stag being from eight to twelve. Several stags often keep 

 possession of a herd together, so that the common belief 

 in the inevitable antagonism of the stags is without 

 foundation. Fights do take place, very often perhaps, 

 but they are by no means so frequent as some people 



