MATING 49 



and development takes place in order that new conditions 

 may be met. Innumerable instances could be given of 

 this, but the one that will perhaps best serve the purpose 

 is that which is so frequently observed by sportsmen : the 

 way animals learn the efficiency of modern fire-arms. Go 

 to a place where the natives have been in the habit of 

 using smooth-bore guns, which will throw a large ball 

 perhaps seventy-five or even a hundred yards with fair 

 accuracy. The animals have learnt the range perfectly, and 

 always bolt if they have the chance, immediately before the 

 hunter is within that range. Now, let a man appear with the 

 modern high-power rifle and the animals are killed with 

 ease at distances which they previously regarded as being 

 outside the danger zone. Then some of the cleverer ones 

 realise that a new condition has arisen and that their old 

 methods are of no avail in saving them from this strange 

 weapon. They soon impart this knowledge to those less 

 alert than themselves, and before long the species has 

 changed its habit, making sure of its safety by never, 

 if they can help it, allowing any man to approach within 

 the newly-considered safety range. It is, however, 

 unfortunate for the animals that their quickness of under- 

 standing does not quite keep pace with man's inventive 

 genius, and so they must continue to fall before the superior 

 intelligence and power of their enemy, man. 



To get back to the Caribou and their love-making, let 

 me first state that the stag believes in a plurality of wives — 

 a great plurality ; in fact, as many as he can or thinks 

 he can keep under his control. Some writers contend that 

 the Caribou stag is true to his own band of does. How 

 they arrive at such a conclusion I cannot see. It may 

 possibly apply to some of the species (one writer states that 

 in the region near Abitibi the stags do not have more than 



