190 Our North Land. 



caribou, as you please to call them. There is no danger in shooting 

 them, while with the bears you cannot tell what minute you may 

 be compelled to fight for your life. They are not so high or hand- 

 some as the red deer, the legs being shorter and not so well shaped, 

 feet broader, ears shorter, and nostrils larger. The skin is brown in 

 the summer, brown and white in the fall, and white in the winter. 

 It is extremely thick and beautifully soft, being covered with a down 

 or wool underneath, and long white or mottled hairs under all. This 

 gives it a soft, soothing touch. The antlers of the stag are palmated , 

 sweeping backward, and of most wonderful proportions. The brow 

 antlers meet over the nose, like one's two hands, palms together, 

 with the fingers straight out. He is in every way prepared to resist 

 the cold, and travel over the rough country which he inhabits. He 

 does not scrape away the snow to get at the lichen moss upon which 

 he feeds, with his horns, as some have supposed, because he has 

 none in winter. He clears away the snow with his nose, which is 

 covered with a hard skin for the purpose. 



The stags shed their horns in November, after the rutting season. 

 They obtain their full growth by the first of September. Terrible 

 battles take place among them in the month of September, and it is 

 hard to find, after that, a full-grown stag whose horns are not broken 

 or battered. In many cases the brow antlers are broken off 

 altogether, and the animal badly bruised about the head and fore- 

 legs. Unlike the ordinary deer, the female caribou are also provided 

 with antlers, but not always. She brings forth her young in May, 

 when two years old, retaining her horns till then. A full-grown 

 caribou hind is about the size of a red deer stag ; and a full-grown 

 stag in his prime, say from six to ten years old, will weigh about 

 four hundred pounds. 



The reindeer of northern Canada, like the rest of the deer family, 

 are guided almost entirely by their wonderful sense of smell. They 

 have also the peculiarity of feeding down wind, which is always taken 

 advantage of in hunting them, for if the sportsman can obtain a good 

 hiding-place to leeward, they will feed almost on top of him. These 

 deer, from being very little hunted, have but little fear of man, so 

 long as they do not scent him, and will often allow one to approach 



