APPENDIX. 347 



perennial. The under-shrubs generally bear the various descriptions 

 of berries, and with great profusion. There are, here and there, wild 

 pastures, or intervales, by the edge of sluggish water, but they bear 

 but a small proportion to the woodlands ; the bogs and barrens pro- 

 duce moss in abundance, and of the kind found in every part of the 

 world where the reindeer is indigenous, or has been successfully intro- 

 duced, as in Iceland. 



We find, accordingly, that our largest ruminant, the moose-deer, 

 is, in the strictest sense of the word, a wood-eater ; whilst our other 

 animal representing this class, the American reindeer, or cariboo, is 

 found in those portions of the province where large and seldom dis- 

 turbed plains and bogs afford him his favourite moss, the lichen 

 rangiferinus. As amongst the larger animals, ruminants alone 

 offer a selection for introduction into a forest country with the 

 physical attributes of Nova Scotia, we may ask if there is any other 

 animal of the deer tribe which might be successfully acclimatised 

 here. The answer comes through careful consideration of the fauna 

 and flora of other regions compared with our own. The field 

 naturally presenting itself for this research lies in the forest districts 

 of America farther west, and in northern Europe, which, under 

 similar climatic influences, presents a strong analogy to this portion 

 of the globe, especially on its western seaboard ; the forest trees and 

 shrubs, the larger animals, the birds and the fish of Norway and 

 Sweden, are almost reproduced in British North America ; indeed, 

 distinction of species in many cases is far from established. 



The common deer (Cervus Yirginianus), then, of Maine and the 

 Canadas, and more recently of New Brunswick by spontaneous accli- 

 matisation, or perhaps rather through the instrumentality of the wolf, 

 appears to be perfectly adapted for an existence in the Nova Scotian 

 woods — a graceful species, but little inferior to the red deer of 

 Europe, affording the excellent venison with which the New York 

 and Boston markets are so well supplied. The climate of Nova 

 Scotia, allowing so little snow to accumulate in the woods until the 

 close of the winter, would prove a great safeguard against the whole- 

 sale destruction with which it meets in Maine and New Brunswick, 

 where it is continually in a most helpless condition from the depth of 

 snow throughout the winter. Indeed, it is already with us, for a 

 small herd of healthy animals may now be seen at Mr. Downs* 

 gardens, to whom the country is already indebted for many an un- 

 assisted attempt at real practical acclimatisation.* 



* Mr. Andrew Downs, Naturalist, N. W. Arm, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 



