THE CARIBOU 



BY MADISON GRANT. 



'T'HE name caribou is one of the few names manufactured by 

 the American pioneers to describe an animal found here. 

 UnUke the name moose, which is of Indian origin, caribou is a 

 modern French-Canadian corruption of " carrc-hocuf " — or square 

 ox — a word not without a certain descriptive power. The Al- 

 gonquin equivalent is aii-eii-a-dik. 



The term " caribou " is properly applied to all the American 

 species of the genus Rangifer, while the word " reindeer " is lim- 

 ited to the old-world forms. In Europe, however, the latter 

 name covers the entire genus. 



The origin of the word reindeer is of considerable interest. 

 The first syllable, rein in English, rainc in Dutch, rcnnc in 

 French, and rcnn-thier in German, are not only equivalents, but 

 are also related to the Latin-French form raiigi-ier. The Lapp 

 word reiiio, meaning pasturage, should also be noted. Curiously 

 enough, the second syllable of reindeer, vennthier, and rangi/^r 

 are also of a common origin. Beginning with the Greek tlierion, 

 a wild beast, we have Latin feruni by the metamorphosis of the 

 th into /, and both equivalent to tliier in German; and this latter 

 by a similar transformation of the th into d, becoming deer in 

 English. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



Before going into a detailed description of the genus, it may 

 be well to brieflv summarize the different classifications which. 



