298 



COMPLEX ANTLERS 



trampled down, and the animal contents itself with hrowsing 

 upon the adjacent stems. The well -trampled ground gives an 

 easy footing, and by his powerful horns the great stag is able to 

 keep his enemies at bay. 



/■' 



1^ 



-V 



Fig. 1.56. — Moose. Alces machlis. x ,rV 



Eangifer tar and us, the Reindeer, is unique among Deer by 

 reason of the fact that l:>oth sexes wear antlers. These antlers 

 are palmated. The l)row tine and the next or bez tine are also 

 ])alniated and are directed forwards and a little downwards. The 

 young are imspotted. The pelage alters in winter. Like the 

 Moose, the Reindeer is circumpolar. As is well known, during the 

 Pleistocene period the Reindeer extended its range as far as the 

 Soutli of France. E\'en in the historic period it is said to have 

 l>een hunted in Caithness. 



Reindeer, like so many other particularly Arctic animals, 

 have regular migrations. In Spitzbergen, for instance, the animal 

 migrates in the summer to the inland region of the island, and in 



