107 



in the craft. Large numbers of them are sometimes skiughtered when 

 discovered swimming aci'oss a lake or river in their migrations. I 

 have heard of a camp of Indians killing fourteen in a few minutes as 

 they were crossing the River des Lievres. The caribou is still to be 

 found in considerable numbers on the last named river as close as sixty 

 or seventy miles from its confluence v/ith the Ottawa ; also on the 

 Gatineau River above the Desert, and in more limited numbers above 

 Pembroke, in the neighbourhood of Black River, and on the shores of 

 Lake Nipissing. They are also plentiful on both sides of the St. 

 Lawrence, beyond Riviere du Loup, below Quebec, and are quite 

 abundant on the northern shores of Lake Superior. While we have no 

 historical I'ecord of the woodland caribou ever having been found in 

 any considerable numbers on the south shore of the Ottawa, I think 

 there can be little doubt of its having been quite plentiful in the past on 

 the north side of the stream within a few miles of its banks. Strayed 

 members of the family have been, to my own knowledge, seen on the 

 south side of the Ottawa, one having been killed at L'Orignal about 

 twenty-five years ago. In such cases they had evidently strayed from 

 the north side, which has always been their natural habitat. The 

 cai'ibou migrates in herds of from ten^ to one, two, and four hiundred ; 

 and it is a notable fact that a concealed hunter, with the wind in 

 his favour, if he does not show himself, has ammunition enough, a 

 good rifle, and is the right man in the place, can slaughter 

 a whole herd. Under ordinary conditions, the caribou is the most 

 difficult to approach of all deer, but when accidentally encountered, 

 under circumstances such as I have mentioned, the animals seem to be 

 completely panic stricken and unable to make any attempt to escape. 



The wapiti (Cervus canadensis Erxleben) is not only the most 

 noble specimen of the genus in America, but by far the most beautiful 

 and stately animal of the deer tribe in the world. No animal known 

 to naturalists carries such a majestic and symmetrical set of horns. In 

 this feature the wapiti far surpasses the gi-eat Sambur of India, and the 

 red stag of the British Islands. A lai'ge male will weigh between eight 

 hundred and one thousand pounds ; the female, when full grown and 

 fat, weighing upwards of seven hundred pounds. The form of this 

 noble animal is exceedingly compact, strongly built and graceful ; the 



