NOTES ON THE SCANDINAVIAN EEINDEEE. 



213 



XXI. 



NOTES ON THE SCANDINAVIAN REINDEER. By N. LAURENCE AUSTEN, Esq., F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



WILD Reindeer were formerly, it is believed, found throughout the greater por- 

 tion of the Scandinavian peninsula ; but at the present day they are confined to 

 the more northern parts. They exist in large herds on the more elevated moun- 

 tain plateaux of Norway but do not appear to descend lower than the Birch- 

 limit, about 3700 feet above the sea-level, and seem never to frequent the dense 

 Pine-forests which clothe the lower slopes of the mountains. 



The principal food of the -Reindeer during the summer months consists of grass 

 and the foliage of the dwarf Willows (Salix glauca and S. hastata). They also 

 feed on various species of Cerastium, on the Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), 

 and they are especially fond of the Glacier Buttercup (Ranunculus glacialis), which 

 is found only above the Birch-limit, and extends considerably above the line of 

 perpetual snow, growing in clefts of slaty rock. This plant is called " Ren- 

 blumme," or Reindeer-flower, in Norsk ; two varieties of it are known, one having 

 white, and the other purplish blossoms. 



During the winter the Deer subsist almost entirely on the Reindeer-moss ( Cla- 

 donia rangiferina), which grows on the higher parts of the " fjeld." There is a 

 prevailing idea that the Reindeer uses its broad frontal antlers to plough up the 

 snow when searching for the moss ; but this, I believe, is not the case, as the full- 

 grown stags, whose horns alone possess this peculiarity of form, shed their antlers 

 in the earlier portion of the winter, about the middle of November, the hinds and 

 immature males retaining theirs until the ensuing spring. An experienced Nor- 

 wegian hunter, who was with me for several seasons in the mountains, assured me 

 that in severe weather the Deer united in large herds, and resorted to the highest 

 parts of the fjeld, where the snow does not lie so deeply, constant gusts of wind 

 sweeping over it and causing it to collect in ravines and sheltered corries. In 

 such situations, where the snow is thinnest, the largest and most powerful stags 

 go in advance of the herd, and scrape up the snow with their fore feet ; but having 

 reached the moss, they are frequently driven away by the hinds and younger 

 males, which, retaining their antlers during the period of winter, are thus enabled 

 to keep off their more vigorous companions. 



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