74 



PEAIEIE AND FOREST. 



greatest severity of cold, they suffer severely from heat, to 

 avoid which they make two migrations annually, to the 

 north in summer grazing back to the south in winter. 

 During these journeys the greatest destruction of the species 

 takes place, for they almost invariably follow the same line 

 of march, with which the natives are acquainted, and where 

 they await for the herd either entering mountain defiles or 

 crossing rivers, when they are surrounded and indis- 

 criminately slaughtered. 



They are also hunted on snow-shoes, after the manner 

 of moose. 



As cariboo are possessed of great vitality, they require 

 heavy hitting : so a rifle of large calibre ought to be 

 employed by the sportsman. 



Although there are upon the American continent two 

 very distinctly marked varieties of the reindeer, I cannot 

 adopt the idea of many travellers that, so conspicuous is 

 their dissimilo.rity, that they are entitled to be considered 

 distinct species. 



We are all aware that difference of climate, local causes, 

 and abundance or paucity of food work wonderful alteration 

 on animal life more especially in regulating their stature ; 

 for instance, the moose deer of Labrador seldom exceeds 

 sixteen and a half hands, while that of Nova Scotia and 

 New Brunswick has been known to attain twenty-one or 

 even twenty-two hands (vide Audubon). Now the grounds 

 that are taken for asserting that there are two species of 

 cariboo are exactly the same, and would equally justify 

 the decision that there are two species of elk. The wood- 

 land cariboo leads a life of comparative idleness among 



