42 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



of the rivers such as the north indulges in with unerring 

 regularity. 



It is fortunate for the Caribou that they are so nearly 

 amphibious, as the greater part of the country they traverse 

 in the spring is water covered. Barrens which were dry in 

 the autumn are now vast lakes of shallow, ice-cold water 

 and the hillsides are glittering streams and cascades. The 

 paths through the forest where the snow lies deepest and 

 longest are woodland brooks ; everything is wet during the 

 early spring, when during the months of April and May the 

 heavy does splash their solitary way north. There is no 

 great rush of animals, but a slow and scattered moving of 

 the survivors of the herds which hurried southward six or 

 seven months before. No longer are they a well-groomed lot, 

 with long, heavy, smooth coats, for as the weather warms, 

 the long hair no longer needed falls off, leaving the animal 

 rough-looking and untidy, as it makes way for the finer 

 summer covering. The does are hornless by this time, and 

 the stags are showing signs of the great antlers which will 

 adorn their heads later on. During May all the migratory 

 division of Caribou will have reached their summer homes 

 in the northern hills and in doing so they close the cycle 

 of the Four Periods which, let us hope, will be repeated 

 each year for many generations to come. 



