8o NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



statement that has been made that the herds never number 

 more than twenty or thirty. In a single day I have often seen 

 four or five herds containing between fifty and seventy-five, 

 and have frequently counted a hundred or more going along 

 together. Most of the travelling is done by daylight ; in 

 fact, except during a storm, they seldom move about much 

 after dark. I should say that the best time to see the 

 Caribou passing is between sunrise and half-past ten. 

 During the noon hours they usually keep fairly quiet, but 

 there is frequently quite a movement about an hour before 

 sunset. 



Sitting on the banks of the river, one can often hear 

 the almost continual splash-splash-splash, as herd after 

 herd enters the water to swim across. It must not be 

 thought that the migration means the moving of all the 

 animals together. Each herd keeps pretty well to itself, 

 though two or more small herds frequently merge together. 

 It is barely possible that, at the actual start, the herds are of 

 immense size and that they break up as they proceed. I 

 suggest this theory because on some days a great many 

 herds appear along the same leads or paths, as though they 

 had all started together, while other equally good leads will 

 not be used for many days in succession. So noticeable is this 

 that in watching for the animals I often select a place where 

 I have either seen one or two herds pass, or where there are 

 very fresh tracks, and remain there for the entire day, with 

 results which frequently justify such a course. Each year 

 sees a slight change in the route selected by the greater 

 number of animals. What is a first-rate place one year 

 may be entirely unused the following season, the general 

 trend being perhaps less than a mile further to the east or west. 

 The cause of this is unknown, but it may be accounted 

 for by the rising or lowering of lakes or rivers, either by 



