MIGRATIONS 79 



Caribou appeared, and as there were many sportsmen and 

 so-called sportsmen on the train, a grand fusillade com- 

 menced, which resulted in the most ghastly butchery. 

 I do not recall the details, and anyhow they are 

 better left unwritten. But great good resulted from the 

 bloody affair, for it caused the passing of splendid game 

 laws and the making of a reservation that included the 

 whole region through which the herds were most closely 

 concentrated before they separated to jfind their winter 

 quarters on the higher lands. Not only is no shooting ot 

 any sort allowed now on this reserve, but I am glad to say 

 that even camping is forbidden. This was a most important 

 improvement, because so long as men were allowed to camp 

 there they could (and frequently did) shoot without much 

 fear of being caught. This is not said in criticism of the 

 game wardens, because in a country like Newfoundland 

 the natural conditions offer every protection to the poacher. 

 He could kill within a very short distance of the wardens or 

 rangers and still escape with little or no difficulty. 



Before exhausting the reader's patience by this long- 

 drawn-out chapter on migration, it might be well to tell 

 something of the habits of the animals during this period. 

 In the previous chapter it was shown that the mating 

 usually occurs immediately before the animals start south, 

 so that everything is in a peaceful condition. jealousies 

 and fightings have passed and are forgotten, truculent stags 

 have become as quiet as old cows, and all are friends once 

 more. The first fall of snow has warned them that it is 

 time for the start, and so they head in a general southerly 

 direction, going fast or slow according to the weather 

 conditions. Usually they come at a very rapid walk, in 

 herds numbering from three or four to about one hundred 

 and fifty. There is absolutely no foundation for the 



