90 GAME ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



from one district to another. The changes of locality, however, 

 which are made by the different members of the deer family, 

 deserve more close attention than has yet been given them. 



If we know that we have but one species of deer in North 

 America that is strictly migratory in its habit — that its members 

 entirely change their habitat with the changing seasons — we have 

 reason to believe that several, if not all of the other members of 

 this family, are more or less migratory in their habits, but to what 

 extent we may consider at present an undetermined question. We 

 think we may safely say that the Barren Ground Caribou is the 

 only American species which is strictly migratory. They occupy 

 the district of country between the Atlantic coast and the Rocky 

 Mountains north of the sixtieth parallel of latitude. They move 

 to the north in the spring, the females in advance, to the shores and 

 islands of the Arctic Ocean, where they drop their young, and in 

 the fall return south, and spend the winter in the lower latitudes, 

 individuals passing sometimes south of the sixtieth parallel. 



The Woodland Caribou is undoubtedly migratory, but to a less 

 extent. Sir John Richardson informs us that contrary to the gen- 

 eral rule, they migrate north in winter to about the sixtieth degree 

 of north latitude, and south in the summer, yet we think it certain 

 that this migration is not usual as with their smaller congeners of 

 the north, for many individuals at least remain near their southern 

 limits throughout the winter. The great body of those occupying 

 the islands of Newfoundland spend their lives upon the island, 

 though they change their range at different seasons of the year, 

 while some cross the straits on the ice to Labrador. 



If our moose or elk are to any considerable extent migratory, 

 the evidence to establish the fact is wanting, although it is well 

 established that the moose seek the elevated ridges in winter, 

 and the low marshy grounds and water courses in summer. We 

 lack the data which would enable us to speak with any assurance 

 of the habits of the mule and the Columbia black-tailed deer in 

 this regard. 



The Virginia Deer originally occupied every portion of the 

 United States. It has been more carefully observed than any of 

 the other species. The weight of evidence is, we think, that these 

 deer are partially migratory, though their migrations are limited in 



