12 THE NATURAL HISTORY OP ALASKA. 



to have been discovered on the Kenai Peninsula by Mr. A. J. 

 Stone, of the New York Museum, and this one has been called 

 the Rangifer Stcnei. My own experiences with caribou have 

 been limited to the Alaska Peninsula, where they still abound. 

 It is no uncommon sight to see 2,000 or 3,000 of these fine deer 

 in one herd on the Alaska Peninsula during the autumn and 

 winter months. These caribou have been named the Rangifer 

 Granti, but, personally, I can see no very distinct points of 

 difference between them and the ordinary barren land caribou of 

 N. America, the Rangifer arcticus. 



There is undoubtedly a great difference between the woodland 

 and barren land caribou, since the latter are much smaller than 

 the former and carry horns which are slighter in the beam, and 

 have less pahnation than those of the woodland caribou, 

 although in the actual spread of horns there is often not a 

 great difference between the two. The caribou extends over 

 such a vast range of country in N. America that there is still 

 ample scope for enterprising naturalists to discover and classify 

 new local species and sub-species of them, which undoubtedly 

 may differ in certain points from those found in other districts. 

 Both the woodland and barren land caribon assemble in great 

 herds at certain seasons of the year and migrate long distances 

 across country, and return again in a few months to their old 

 haunts. Their return, however, is not always so prompt, since 

 in tbe barren lands of the Arctic regions certain conditions, such 

 as severe weather or scarcity of food, may cause herds of caribou 

 to migrate from certain districts where they may not be found 

 two years in succession. 



Besides the caribou there is one other kind of deer, the Black- 

 Tailed Deer (Mazama Columbiana), which are very plentiful in 

 the forest lands of Southern Alaska, and range as far north as 

 Sitka. 



Wolves, wolverines, and lynxes are still fairly numerous in 

 the forests. There is a great variety of the smaller fur-bearing 

 animals, which are still hunted by the natives and others to 

 supply the chief fur markets of the world. Foxes, otters, beaver, 



