130 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



that any description of the type must of necessity 

 be vague. This is particularly true of the very fine 

 heads carrying forty points and over. It would be 

 extremely difficult to find two which would correspond 

 to the same description. In a general way the Newfound- 

 land stag carries a more massive antler than that carried by 

 even its closest cousins. The palmation is especially 

 noticeable, as the bays are frequently very broad and 

 flat, while the brow antlers, or snow shovels, as they 

 are sometimes wrongly called, are of extraordinary size, 

 extending well down to the nose and counting a great 

 many points, yet it may be said that this is equally true 

 of Osborn's Caribou [see Fig. 14), though perhaps the well- 

 developed double brows are more frequently found in the 

 Newfoundland variety. 



As the animal grows old and passes his prime, there is a 

 marked tendency for the horns to develop great length with 

 a corresponding decrease in the number of points. Thus the 

 horn becomes spindly and uninteresting, except in the matter 

 of inches, for the measurement along the beam gives the 

 idea of a very fine head. The younger stags, from four 

 to six years of age, carry horns of greater uniformity of 

 shape, some of them being remarkably symmetrical and 

 beautiful, though not large, and with but few points. Many 

 of them are so compact, that they bear a striking resemblance 

 to the horns of the white-tail deer. It is unfortunate that 

 photographs of horns do not usually give a correct idea of 

 the form, for two reasons. First, because they are seldom 

 photographed from the same point of view, so that satisfactory 

 comparisons cannot be made ; second, the length of focus 

 of the lens plays an important part. For instance, with a 

 short focus lens, a picture made from the front view distorts 

 the perspective, and makes the brows and bays unduly 



