16 THE WILD REINDEER OF NORWAY. 



passage over soft snow, or among slippery rocks. 

 Indeed, in powers of climbing, I fancy it is exceeded 

 by few mountain-loving quadrupeds. I remem- 

 ber on one occasion seeing three deer that had been 

 disturbed gallop at full speed along a narrow ledge 

 on the face of an almost perpendicular cliff, with a 

 precipice of more than a hundred feet below them, 

 and down which a single false step would have hurled 

 them. 



A peculiar clicking noise is heard when the 

 animal is in motion, occasioned by the contraction 

 of the hoof when the foot is raised from the 

 ground, and the consequent striking of the two 

 portions of the hoof against each other. In de- 

 scending precipitous slopes of rock, they obtain 

 increased security of foothold by the use of the 

 spurious hoofs, which, as in the case of the chamois 

 and other mountain animals, are capable of con- 

 siderable holding power. The hind legs are much 

 longer in proportion to the others than is usually 

 the case among the deer tribe ; and this peculiarity 

 of structure is of great assistance to the animal in 

 traversing rocky ground 



In size a full-grown reindeer stands rather more 

 than four feet at the shoulder, but some individuals 

 attain a much larger size. The horns seem to 

 attain their full growth at the age of from seven to 

 nine years. In the young deer they are first repre- 



