958 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



The antlers are very long in proportion to the length of the skull, and above 

 the brow-tine, which is also branched and often palmated, after giving off the 

 bez-tine, the narrow beam is continued backward for some distance, till it bends 

 forward at an angle, usually giving off a small back-tine at the bend. The beam is 

 then continued upward and forward till it becomes palmated near the extremity, 

 with a variable number of points on its hinder border. In the reindeer of the New 

 World the antlers exhibit the greatest complexity of structure, the brow-tine of one 

 side becoming enormously developed and greatly palmated, while on the other it is 

 aborted. 



In build the reindeer is a somewhat heavy animal, with short and rather stout 

 limbs, terminating in large hoofs. The main pair of hoofs, as shown in our figure, 



are rounded, broad and short, with the intervening cleft 

 very deep and wide, while the lateral hoofs are unusually 

 large and flattened from front to back. In traversing 

 snow fields the two main hoofs spread out sideways, while 

 the lateral pair come in contact with the snow, by which 

 means a large extent of surface is afforded to support the 

 weight. The muzzle of the reindeer differs from that of 

 all the deer heretofore mentioned in being clothed with 

 soft hair of moderate length. The neck has no distinct 

 mane, but the throat is fringed with long and rather stiff 

 hair. The ears are smaller than in any other deer, and 

 thickly covered on both sides with hair. The hair 

 clothing the body is from an inch to an inch and one- 

 half in length, and is somewhat crimped or waved, while 

 UNDER SURFACE OF FOOT beneath this i& a coat of woolly unde r-fur. The general 



Or* 1\ i', I IS I.)rV.K.K . 



color of the reindeer is brownish gray, with the face, neck 



and throat whitish, and the nose, ears and limbs brown. There are, however, great 

 individual variations as regards color, some specimens being nearly or quite white 

 throughout. In general the tail is white, with a tinge of brown at the root and on 

 the upper surface, and there is a distinct white ring round each fetlock. The hoofs 

 are black, and the antlers yellowish, wearing white in places. Reindeer fawns are 

 uniformly colored like the adult. 



The various races of reindeer differ considerably from one another in respect of 

 height, but the bucks of the larger American variety stand about four and one-half 

 feet at the withers, and usually weigh some three hundred and fifty pounds, although 

 unusually fine specimens may reach nearly four hundred pounds. In regard to the 

 length of the antlers, it appears that fine examples vary from forty-eight to just 

 over fifty-seven inches, although one pair is known in which the length reaches to 

 upward of sixty inches. There is great variation in regard to the span of antlers, 

 and the number of points they carry, while it is not unfrequently the case that the 

 longest specimens have by no means the greatest girth. 



Distrib f Reindeer inhabit the northern regions of both the Eastern and 



Western Hemispheres, and English zoologists are pretty generally 



agreed that there is but a single species. In America, however, where they are known 



