44 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



consider, the mating is the all-important step in the lives of 

 animals. So important that Nature arranges everything in 

 such a way that months are devoted to preparation. We 

 can scarcely help wondering why the subject has received 

 such scant consideration. 



If you would see the stag at the only time when he is a 

 really majestic, high-strung, superb creature, keen-eyed and 

 in perfect condition, the culmination of the months of 

 preparation, you must select two, or perhaps three, weeks ot 

 October — that is, the week before, and two weeks during 

 the season. Then, and then only, does the splendid beast 

 do himself justice, a striking contrast to the shy, retiring 

 creature of the preceding months ; and yet even greater 

 contrast to the woebegone, miserable beast of the succeed- 

 ing weeks, when he no longer acts on his own initiative, but 

 is content to follow the more wideawake does, whether of 

 his own band or mere strangers. It is indeed difficult to 

 believe that this is the same animal, so great is the change. 

 And yet the sportsmen who hunt the Caribou usuallv see 

 them at no other time. How then can we wonder at the 

 low opinion that has been formed of this reindeer of the 

 western world, and how can we wonder at the wretched 

 drawings so frequently seen supposed to represent the 

 mighty stag, but which in reality show the animal at its 

 worst, thin and illshapen, with drooping head and fireless 

 eyes, a sad imitation of the real stag ? 



During October of 191 2 it was my good fortune, after 

 having spent nine successive seasons in Newfoundland, to 

 meet the Caribou and be able to stay with them throughout 

 the mating period. It was due to a combination of good 

 luck and much hard work — usually the principal factor in 

 what we call luck. The luck lay in the fact that an 

 unusually early fall of snow had driven the northern herds 



