172 FRANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



THE REIN-DEER — VULGO, CARIBOO. 



, CERVUS TARANDUS : L. 



Cervus Tarandus ; Lin. Sijst. p. 93. Carihoo of the old French 

 writers. Cervus Tarandus ; Harlan's Fauna Americana, p. 

 232 ; Godman's Am. Nat. Hist., vol. ii,, p. 283 ; Richardson 

 F. B. A., vol. i., p. 238 ; Emmons, Mass. Reports, 1840, p. 78. 



" Characteristics. — Varying in color from deep brown to gray- 

 ish-white. About the size of the common Deer. 



" Description. — Body robust, and low on the legs ; snout thin, 

 with oblique nostrils ; ears large ; horns usually slender, very 

 variable in form, — they generally consist of brow antlers, which 

 are palmate and digitate, the main stem directed backward, then 

 curving forward, with simple or palmated antlers, or else ter- 

 minating in a broad, palmated expansion, which is often fur- 

 nished with points ; legs I'obust ; hoofs rounded, consisting of 

 a single plate folded on itself very broad, with a strong fringe 

 of hairs around it ; fur close and compact, but composed of 

 two portions, one woolly, the other longer, straight, and brittle. 



" Color. — Varying with age and season. Young, brownish 

 above, with a tinge of reddish beneath. Adults in the sum- 

 mer, a smooth coat of grayish-brown, becoming rougher and 

 whiter in winter ; beneatla, the throat, belly, and insides, white 

 at all seasons. 



" It is with much hesitation that I include this animal in the 

 Fauna of our State ; but the representations of hunters lead me 

 to suspect, that when the yet unexplored parts of the State have 

 been more thoroughly examined, its existence may be disclosed. 

 Pennant, in his time, asserted that the Rein-deer was not found 

 farther South than the most northern part of Canada. Charle- 

 voix, however, saw one killed at Quebec. The specimen in the 

 cabinet of the Medical College at Albany, came from Nova 

 Scotia ; and Harlan asserts that it does not pass the State of 

 Maine into the United States, implying its existence there. 



