THE WILD REINDEER OF NORWAY. 101 
On the under side of the neck the hair is long and 
hangs down in a peculiar manner. It has a short tail, 
covered sparsely with short stiff hairs. Generally, the 
reindeer is somewhat smaller than the red deer, and its 
legs are shorter and appear to be more nimble. While 
the tame reindeer seldom attains a greater weight than 
130 to 140 pounds, the wild bucks are often found the 
double of this. I have heard of two bucks being shot 
on the Lasjé Fjeld weighing about 324 pounds each. 
The outer layer of fat on one of them weighed forty- 
eight pounds ! 
The antlers are smooth, rounded off, and flat on the 
inside ; those of the doe are of the same form as the 
bucks, only smaller. The periods at which they shed 
their horns differ greatly. The old bucks usually 
shed theirs before Christmas, whilst the does and young 
bucks do not shed them till the spring. In the former, 
they begin to grow again in the summer, and are then 
covered with a soft hairy coating of skin. By the 
middle of September they are perfectly developed, 
and have now become hard and firm. At this time 
they may often be seen rubbing their antlers against 
sandbanks, in order to get rid of the coating of skin, 
which hangs down in long strips, and stamping with 
their hoofs on them till their horns are quite bare. 
During this operation they frequently lose a great 
deal of blood. Should the weather be sunny their 
