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by the pi-actical naturalist known as the hunter. The horns measured 

 by Audubon for this description were A'ery likely those of a female, 

 which are much smaller than the antlers of the male. Here, before you, 

 are two sets of hoi'ns of the woodland caribou, both of which came from 

 the vicinity of the Kakabonga Lake, above the Desert, on the Gatineau 

 River. They are singularly dissimilar in appearance ; and, from the 

 size, I judge that both belong to male heads. I saw a pair of caribou 

 hoi'ns some years ago in the possession of Mr. Hiram Robinson of this 

 city; which were very much larger, more massive and wide spreading, 

 and had many more and longer prongs than either of these. The height 

 of a full grown woodland caribou is about four and a half feet, and 

 its weight about three hundred and fifty pounds. Large bucks are 

 occasionally met with neai-ly four hundred pounds in weight. The food 

 of the caribou consists of mosses, lichens and creeping plants found in 

 the swamps in summer, and in search of which, and certain grasses, it 

 paws up the snow with its broad hoofs in winter. The flesh when fat is 

 most delicious, but when lean it is diy and insipid. The skin when tanned, 

 is made into moccasins, and in the raw state is used in the manufacture 

 of snowshoes. It is fine, thin, tough and durable. The caribou is the 

 fleetest of American deer. In galloping he makes most extraordinary 

 bounds. As a trotter, the slow-going 2.15 horses attempting to compete 

 with him would be simply nowhere. Like his useful congener — some 

 authorities believe them to be of the same species — the reindeer of 

 Northern Europe, the caribou is possessed of great power's of endurance, 

 often escaping from the Indian hunters, after the fatigue and starvation 

 inseparable from four or five days o<" a continued following-up hunt. 

 When the hunted animal gets upon glare ice, over which he can trot at 

 a rate double that of the fleetest skater, the hunter is obliged to give u]) 

 the chase. The caribou is a shy and exceedingly wary animal, and 

 most difficult to still-hunt ; neither can he be successfully hunted in dee]) 

 snow, he being enabled to go over its surface upon his broad, flat hoofs 

 like a hare. So far as I have been able to learn, it is only time lost 

 to hunt the caribou with dogs. The hounds might follow the scent, but 

 they would scarcely ever be in at the death, as it is a pretty well known 

 fact that dogs cannot drive them to water. They are, however, 

 .successfully still-hunted by Indians, and also by white hunters skilled 



