252 LABRADOR 



ing themselves far north of the Arctic Circle, in spite of the 

 almost Stygian darkness of the long winters and in spite 

 of the minimal food-supply available, shows that even 

 when Nature displays the very least generosity, animals of 

 this family possess a phenomenal fitness to survive. More- 

 over, it has also been shown by countless experiments with 

 many species of animals, that by careful treatment of those 

 introduced into new environments, traits can in time be 

 developed that will enable the species to flourish in the 

 new home ; whereas even had they been able to reach the 

 very same region in the ordinary course of nature, they 

 would, unaided by such development, not have persisted. 



The natural distribution of the reindeer is almost entirely 

 limited to the subarctic regions. Wet and cold offer no 

 terrors to them ; the humblest lichen affords them a source 

 of nutriment ; only the very deepest snowfalls can prevent 

 their digging down to their food-supply; and they can 

 range and multiply so far north that even their one enemy, 

 the timber-wolf, cannot reach them. The wonderful hoofs 

 of these members of the ungulate family are faced with an 

 ever renewing hard exterior, which, like the beaver's tooth, 

 is only made sharper by being used, and which enables 

 the deer to cut down even through snow protected with an 

 icy covering. At the same time they possess large dew- 

 claws, or hooflets, which increase the spread of their large 

 splay-feet, and enable the deer to travel and escape danger 

 over snow in which any of our common cattle would be 

 hopelessly engulfed and destroyed. 



The experiments of introducing domestic reindeer into 

 Alaska were first undertaken by the famous missionary, 

 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, and have been since assumed and 



