190 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Woodland Caribou. 



The known range of the Woodland Caribou in North America 

 extends from Newfoundland in the east, throughout Canada as 

 far as the Cassiar Mountains of British Columbia and the Alaskan 

 border in the west ; and it is more than probable that the caribou 

 known to inhabit the mountains west of the Mackenzie between 

 the Dease and Pelly rivers belong also to this group. Passing over 

 for the moment the Newfoundland species, the typical Woodland 

 Caribou, Rangifer caribou, ranges from Nova Scotia through 

 New Brunswick and Maine to the St. Lawrence River. In Maine 

 their numbers have greatly declined in the last few years, prob- 

 ably from some unknown epidemic ; and then, too, in spite of the 

 excellent game laws of that State, which have adequately pro- 

 tected the other large mammals. It formerly existed in small 

 numbers in northern Vermont and New Hampshire, but it may 

 be stated in passing that there is absolutely no evidence of the 

 existence of caribou in historic times in the Adirondacks, while 

 there is much evidence of a negative character against it. 



On the north of the St. Lawrence this animal extends through- 

 out the entire Province of Quebec as far as the East Main River 

 in Labrador. In the country to the north and east of Lake St. 

 John, and on the southern watershed of Labrador, it has been 

 nearly exterminated, presumably by the devastating fires which 

 have swept over this district in recent years. West of Lake St. 

 John it is found to the height of land and northward to James 

 Bay and Hudson Bay, and in small numbers between these 

 bays and Lake Superior. It was found in northern Minnesota, 

 but I have been unable to verify Judge Caton's statement that 

 in the early part of the century they occurred in small numbers 

 on the southern shores of Lake Superior. 



The Woodland Caribou extends westward throughout suit- 

 ^able forest areas in Manitoba. Saskatchewan, and Athabasca, to 

 Great Slave Lake on the north. In the neighborhood of the 

 Churchill River, west of Hudson Bay, the range of this animal 

 and the Barren Ground Caribou from the north overlap at some 

 seasons of the year, but there is no evidence of interbreeding. 

 In west Canada it is holding its own well, owing to the fact 

 that, unlike the Barren Ground Caribou, it does not gather in 



