ANTLERS. 207 



animal, and some others of the deer tribe. His legs are besides 

 shorter and thicker than those of the red deer. Occasionally he 

 attains to a weight of about three hundred and fifty pounds. 

 His colour somewhat depends on the season of the year. In 

 the summer time brown predominates ; but in the winter, he 

 has a greyish, or even whitish look. He is of a much lighter 

 and more handsome colour than the tame rein-deer. His 

 coat in the winter at least is immensely thick. 



The hoofs of the rein-deer, which, as with others of the 

 deer tribe, are cloven and which the animal has the power 

 of contracting or expanding at pleasure are large and broad, 

 and enable him to make his way over marshy ground and 

 through deep snow with apparent ease. The snapping or 

 clicking noise, which is heard when the animal walks, is 

 occasioned by the contraction of the hoof when the foot is 

 raised from the ground, and the consequent striking of the 

 inner parts of the hoof against each other. * 



Both sexes are provided with antlers; but those of the 

 female are somewhat less than the male's. They are large 

 and slender, with brow antlers, which are broad and pal- 

 mated ; and they are highly ornamented, being entirely 

 covered during the principal part of the year, with a soft, 

 dark, velvety down. . Though the male as well as the 

 female shed their horns annually ,f it is not at the same 



* L. von Buch (and Lsestadius says pretty much the same thing) attributes 

 the noise, on the contrary, to "the incessant crackling of his knee-joints, as if 

 produced by a succession of electric shocks." 



f " When the rein-deer sheds his horns, and gets new ones in their stead," 

 so we learn from Pontoppidan, " they appear at first to be covered with a sort 

 of skin, and till they come to a finger's length, are so soft, that they may 

 be cut with a knife like a sausage, and are delicate eating even raw. This we 

 have from the huntsmen's account, who, when they are far out in the country, 

 and are pinched for food, eat them, which satisfies both hunger and thirst." 



