ORIGIN OF THE REINDEER IN NORWAY. 31 



season, they grow no more that year, and the deer is 

 rendered unfit for breeding purposes the following 

 season. 



The wild reindeer is a handsome animal, but is by 

 no means so graceful as the red deer, on account of 

 the formation of its neck, which obliges it to carry its 

 head low. In summer, its colour is brownish-gray, 

 in winter it is of a much lighter gray. It is dappled 

 gray when it is shedding its coat. The hair under the 

 neck hangs down in a long tuft. The weight of the 

 animal varies from 200 to 280 pounds. The legs are 

 short and thick, and the hoofs are large and broad, 

 and well adapted for the rapid motion of the animal 

 over the snow. As it moves from place to place, the 

 hoofs make a snapping noise, which is occasioned, 

 says Mr. Lloyd, " by the contraction of the hoof when 

 the foot is raised from the ground, and the consequent 

 striking of the inner parts of the hoof against each 

 other." Other writers assert that the noise is caused 

 by the incessant crackling of the knee-joints of the 

 animal, as if produced by a succession of electric 

 shocks. 



The wild reindeer is strictly preserved in Norway 

 from April 1st to August 1st. As to the origin of 

 the reindeer in Scandinavia, Nilsson is of opinion that 

 the animals once to be found in Scania, a province of 

 Southern Sweden, came from the south, immediately 

 after the boulder-formation, and whilst Sweden was 

 still united to Germany; while, on the contrary, the 

 reindeer, which are now found in Northern Sweden 

 and in Norway, arrived at a much later period, and 

 after the land stretching between the Gulf of Bothnia 

 and the White Sea had risen from the deep. The 



