38 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



are almost if not quite extinct in Newfoundland, do not 

 hunt by sight any more than other wild creatures do. We 

 can readily understand the advantage which the white 

 colour is to the hare of the north, for as they sit quietly 

 for hours at a time, the scent of their tracks becomes cold, 

 and they are as inconspicuous as one mound of snow is 

 among others. Also the weasel, by turning white, has 

 much advantage in stalking his quarry. It seems to be 

 always the same, one object pitted against another, the 

 balance being maintained as closely as possible, so that 

 neither the hunter nor the hunted shall gain any great 

 advantage. When we build guns to penetrate the strongest 

 armour and then build armour to resist the most powerful 

 guns, we are but copying Nature in our individual fight for 

 supremacy and greater perfection of power. The more 

 one studies the question of white as a winter garb for 

 animals, the more hopeless are we of discovering any 

 solution. One thing contradicts another with discouraging 

 persistence. In the far north we find that the somewhat 

 defenceless musk ox retains his greyish-brown coat, while 

 the powerful polar bear remains white at all times. But the 

 Caribou of that Northern region as well as some of the 

 smaller animals change to white each winter, whether they 

 hunt or are hunted. Perhaps some day we shall discover 

 that white is a protective pigment against cold or that in 

 some way the animal at this season is incapable of supplying 

 the necessary colouring pigment. Either of these would 

 be a happy solution of the puzzle and would be welcomed 

 by many who have worried over the subject. 



The life of the Caribou during the winter is regulated 

 almost entirely by the food supply. So long as the 

 weather is fairly " open " they continue to eat the 

 various ground mosses and lichens (the principal kinds 



