92 SPORT INDEED 



and again his companion killed a moose, and again 

 they saw no deer. It is only of recent years that the 

 latter have become so numerous as to excite little 

 comment, and I firmly believe that the moose also are 

 increasing in numbers ; but the caribou are becoming 

 extinct, or perhaps are leaving because their food — 

 the black moss which grows on the juniper trees — is 

 becoming scarcer as the years go by. Some lumber- 

 men claim that a disease is killing the juniper trees in 

 Maine. If this be so, the caribou will probably wend 

 his way to the maritime provinces of Canada where 

 he can find moss in abundance. 



I spent one week on a caribou bog, traversing it 

 from centre to circumference and becoming familiar 

 with all its nooks and crannies, its alleyways and its 

 main rendezvous. Frequently did I sit watching the 

 caribou cows — and beautiful they are, too, and as sleek 

 and fat as thoroughbred Jerseys. On one occasion I 

 met one of them face to face, and she was not more 

 than twenty feet from me. She looked at me earnestly 

 for some minutes and then turned slowly about and 

 walked away. Twice she repeated these movements 

 but at neither time did she show the slightest fear or 

 any alarm. 



I devoted the most of my six days in searching for 

 the " King of the Bog" — a fellow with a royal pair of 

 antlers. I picked up what I presumed was the set he 

 had discarded in the previous spring. They were 



