D E E R. 



251 



necessaries of life ; and from the different numbers 

 which different individuals possess, and some being 

 without any, there are grandees and paupers in the 

 wastes of Lapland, as well as in the most fertile and 

 thickly populated countries in the world. 



In Lapland properly so called, and in all the 

 country northward to the Gulf of Bothnia, we believe 

 that there are now few rein-deer in a wild state, if, 

 indeed, there are any ; neither are they met with in 

 the southern or lowland parts of Sweden ; but 

 in the central province of that country they are still 

 to be found in considerable numbers. It does not 

 appear that the species ever existed in Europe to the 

 south of the Baltic, though as we proceed eastward 

 and the cold extends farther to the south, we find 

 rein-deer farther to the south also. They range east- 

 ward over the whole continent to Asia, and north- 

 ward to all the isles of the Frozen Ocean, whose icy 

 plains afford a ready passage ; and from the struc- 

 ture of their feet they are well adapted for making- 

 rapid way upon the ice ; and, indeed, it forms a better 

 passage than the land, as it is more level, and always 

 covered with a coating of snow. They are met with 

 in Spitzbergen, which is near the eighteenth parallel 

 of latitude, where man, notwithstanding his flexibi- 

 lity to climate and his mental resources, is unable 

 to endure the winter. On their migrations rein- 

 deer no doubt frequently meet with their polar 

 neighbour the white bear ; but we believe he is 

 unable to come up with him on the ice. 



The circumstance of no trace even of the bones of 

 the rein-deer being found in a fossil state in central or 

 southern Europe, decides that in all ages of the world, 

 this has been strictly a polar animal ; and the fact of 

 its seeking the verge of the Frozen Ocean, and jour- 

 neying upon the ice, proof against the very extreme 

 of the winter's cold, readily accounts for the fact of 

 its being found both in Europe and in America. The 

 continents approach one another very closely on the 

 side of Siberia ; and even in the summer months the 

 ice is so little way to the northward of Behring's 

 Strait, that even then it would be no very arduous 

 march for a reindeer to pass from Asia to America, 

 or the reverse. It is probable, however, that the 

 intercourse, if it is still kept up, takes place during the 

 winter ; because at that season the animals descend, 

 while in summer they seek the elevated spots. 



These circumstances and the facts which we have 

 mentioned of the variations of colour to which rein- 

 deer are liable, clearly establish that though there 

 may be variations in the average colour of the rein- 

 deer of Europe, and the Carabou, as it is called in 

 America, that they are the same identical species. 

 The horns are said to differ at least in some of those 

 which have been considered as varieties in America ; 

 but these appendages differ so much even in the same 

 herd, and sometimes in the same animal, for the one 

 horn is often very differently shaped from the other, 

 that no species or variety can be founded upon any 

 variation of these. Whether the rein-deer passes 

 along the polar ice from Spitzbergen to Greenland, 

 we have no means of ascertaining. It is possible, 

 though not very likely, that with the exception of this 

 one break of its range, this most polar of all the rumi- 

 natia has unbroken command of the entire circuit 

 of the earth ; and on this, its peculiar locality, as well 

 as for its usefulness to man, in the land of his greatest 

 necessities, the rein-deer is one of the most interesting 

 of animals. 



Before we pass to another species it may not be 

 amiss to notice merely for the purpose of showing 

 how unlikely it is to be true, that some naturalists 

 have described the fossil horns found at Etampe in 

 France, to which horns an animal has with most gra- 

 tuitous ingenuity been added, under the name of 

 Cervus Guetardi, as belonging to the reindeer ; but 

 from what we have said of the variable nature of the 

 horns, as well as from what we may call the demon- 

 stration by the late Cnvier, who was at once the most 

 learned and the most cautious judge in such matters, 

 there seems decidedly to be no truth whatever in the 

 assertion. 



THE ELK (Cervus alces). This is the next in order 

 in geographical position, its locality lying immediately 

 to the southward of that of the reindeer, and the two 

 bivoculating with each other on their confines in the 

 eastern continent, and still more in the western. 

 The elk, which was once pretty numerous in central 

 Europe, is now rare in that quarter of the world, 

 though it is still not unknown. In America it is 

 much more abundant, and inhabits further to the 

 south, its head-quarters being the vicinity of the great 

 lakes, and the forests on both sides of the St. Law- 

 rence ; the whole of Canada in fact with New 

 Brunswick, and also westward, at least as far as the 

 RockyMountains.which come down upon the northern 

 ocean, or rather the Polar Sea to the westward of the 

 debouchure of Mackenzie's River, in about 135 

 west longitude. It is not mentioned that the animal 

 has occurred to the westward of those mountains, and, 

 though not impossible, it is not by any means so pro- 

 bable as that the reindeer should be there ; for besides 

 the elk having a less polarly situated locality, its 

 habits are different. The reindeer is adapted to the 

 dry lichen-clad hill in the summer, and to the snow 

 in the winter ; while in summer the elk is more in 

 the marsh, and sometimes actually in the water feed- 

 ing on the submerged grass, and ever and anon blow- 

 ing somewhat like a whale, and in winter it is more 

 in the forest. 



Still there is no reason to suppose that there is any 

 specific difference between the elk, or moose deer as 

 it is called in America, and the elk of the eastern 

 continent. No doubt black elks and reddish elks, 

 and sometimes also white elks, have been described ; 

 but the elk is subject to very considerable changes of 

 cojour with age, the very old ones being apt to turn 

 almost black ; while the young ones are chestnut 

 coloured, and there is little doubt that the white indi- 

 viduals are albinos. 



We cannot resist quoting the following very accu- 

 rate and highly graphic description of the elk, from 

 the pen of Colonel Hamilton Smith, whose monograph 

 on the ruminantia forms the greater part of the fourth 

 volume of the English translation of Cuvier's Animal 

 Kingdom, published in the name of Griffith, which 

 monograph most justly called forth the highest eulo- 

 gium from the illustrious author of the original work. 

 " This animal is the largest of this genus, being 

 higher at the shoulders than the horse ; its horns 

 weigh sometimes near fifty pounds ; accordingly, to 

 bear this heavy weight, its neck is short and strong, 

 taking away much of the elegance of proportion so 

 generally predominant in the deer ; but when it is 

 asserted that the elk wants beauty or majesty, the 

 opinion can be entertained by those only who have 

 seen the female, the young, or the mere stuffed speci- 

 mens ; tor we who have had the opportunity of view 



