REINDEER AND MUSK-OX 



Selection of Localities — 



The evidence indicates that great care must be exercised in selecting 

 locations for any herds which it may be decided to establish. 



Vegetation — 



In the first place, the district must be one in which the vegetation is of such 

 a nature, and in such quantity, as to provide ample sustenance for the herd. 

 The evidence of those witnesses best qualified to express an opinion, is to the 

 effect that the reindeer and his relative the caribou, readily eat both grass and 

 lichen, having apparently no special predilection for either, but utilizing which- 

 ever is most prevalent in the locality in which they may happen to be. 



Summer \'egetation, Bernard Harbour, X.W.T. 



Herding — 



The nature of the country must be such as will permit of effective herd 

 control. The evidence indicates that in some districts man, either on foot or on 

 horseback, would find it quite impossible, especially during the summer season, 

 to travel over the surface in any given direction at such a speed as to permit of 

 effective herding. 



Flies — 



While the evidence on this point is somewhat conflicting, it has been fairly 

 well established that during the summer season, when the flies are bad, both 

 reindeer and caribou endeavour to reach the seashore or betake themselves to 

 higher and more open lands, where they have the advantage of such breezes as 

 may offer. 



Natural Shelter — 



It is claimed by some witnesses that there is no tendency on the part of 

 either the reindeer or the caribou to seek shelter in extreme weather. Be this as 

 it may, the fact remains that the woodland caribou are much larger than those 

 of the so-called barren land variety, their carcasses dressing out at from two 

 hundred to two hundred and se\enty pounds, while the carcasses of the barren 

 land caribou do not weigh over one hundred and fifty pounds. 



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