The Moose, Caribou, and Small Deer. 133 



when I happened upon them on the trail, or when I discovered 

 them swimming across arms of the lake, and as I have never seen a 

 decent caribou head on the Slope, or one I would care to bring 

 home, I do not look back on any chances I may have missed with 

 particular regret. 



It has one peculiarity which, I believe, is not generally known, 

 i.e., that it does not shed its coat as other deer do by the hair 

 falling out. The annual change in the coat is brought about by the 

 extreme tips losing vitality, and getting rubbed off. Anybody who 

 has ever seen a caribou swim cannot help being struck by the ease, 

 swiftness, and endurance evinced. The fact that they show much 

 more of their neck above the surface than any other deer is 

 explained by the peculiar texture of the hairs. These are not 

 only much coarser, but the duct inside is larger than in other 

 hair, and being filled with air, each acts as a sort of miniature 

 natural life-belt. So great is the buoyancy of caribou hair that 

 they have been used to fill life -belts, and a German, Dr. Mintz, has 

 invented a cloth made of caribou or reindeer hair which, when 

 made into suits, prevents the human body from sinking. 



THE SMALLER DEER OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Sportsmen and naturalists, such as Caton, the Wards, of 

 Rochester, U.S.A., as well as the savants of the Smithsonian, know 

 only three species of the small deer in North America (north of 

 Mexico). They are the white-tailed deer (C. Virginia nus], the mule 

 deer (C. macrotis), and the black-tailed deer (C. columbianus}. 

 They are so distinct from each other that the difference can be 

 detected at a glance. The colour of the coat, the shape of the 

 ears, the tail, and the antlers all mark the distinction. Rowland 

 Ward, of Piccadilly, in London town, on the other hand, tells the 

 sportsmen of the world, to whom he dedicates his text-book, that 

 there is no distinction between the two last named kinds.* 



* When this was written, the quite recently published third edition of Ward's 

 book had not been published. 



