274 KELIQULE AQUITANIOE. 



"Reindeer Lichen" (Cladonia rangiferina). It is well known that the Caribou 

 use their fore feet, and not their antlers, to get at their food under the snow; 

 the " Provision of Nature," therefore, quoted by an eminent zoological authority, 

 does not hold good in the case of the Reindeer. During the summer and fall 

 they browse on the leaves of the young White Birch (Betulct papyracea) and of 

 " Moose Wood " (Abies striata}. The Reindeer will also feed, according to 

 Linnaeus*, " on Progs, Snakes, and even on the Lemming, often pursuing the 

 latter to so great a distance as not to find his way back again ; this happened, 

 in several instances, two years ago, when these Rats came down in immense 

 numbers from the mountains." 



The Stags shed their antlers about the beginning of October, when they are 

 often seen with only one of them remaining attached, which causes them to hold 

 their heads on one side (may not such an occurrence have given rise to the sup- 

 posed existence of the Unicorn ? See above, p. 44). The Does retain their dimi- 

 nutive appendages till the spring; the "Not-does" of the Newfoundlanders, or 

 " Nagwatfat " of the Micmac Indians, never have antlers. The " Barren Does " 

 are not strictly infertile, as the name would imply, but are those which from 

 various reasons have failed in producing their young ; they are very fat during 

 the fall of the year, and their flesh is highly esteemed as food. I have seen a 

 Doe, when killed, with a part of her belly covered with milk ; she had probably 

 been sucking herself, as there was no fawn with her. 



The island of Newfoundland may be divided into two sections by a line running 

 from Hall's Bay, on the east coast, along Indian Brook, through Grand Pond, to 

 St. George's Bay on the west coast, which may be called the northern and southern 

 districts. The Caribou of the northern, like those of the southern district, enter 

 the woods in the early part of June, where they remain until the latter end of 

 July, frequenting the sides of the numerous streams, where their tracks on the 

 sandy shores are often met with : at that season they wander about separately. 

 About the beginning of August they move out of the woods, and betake them- 

 selves to the marshes and barrens ; they now travel in a southerly direction along 

 the well-beaten paths or "main leads," from which they diverge to rest awhile 

 on some favourite feeding-ground amongst the groves of Juniper or " Drokes," 

 as they are called. On the advent of October the Stags select their mates ; and 

 small herds collect together, consisting of several Stags and a number of Does, 

 as the case may be. At this season serious encounters take place between the 

 rival "Monarchs of the Waste," as attested by the "locked" antlers occasionally 



* Linne, 'A Tour in Lapland,' edited by J. E. Smith, 1811, vol. i. p. 162. 



