64 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



An interesting table, showing the measurements of 

 moose from different parts of North America, is given by- 

 Mr. A. J. Stone in an article on the moose which he 

 contributes to the book on The Deer Family in the American 

 Sportsman's Library. 



Caribou 



The range of this animal in Alaska is so wide, and so many- 

 hundreds of miles of the country which it inhabits remain 

 yet unvisited by naturalists or sportsmen, that we may- 

 assume not half of what will some day be discovered to be 

 yet known about the caribou of Alaska. For all practical 

 purposes as regards sportsmen it may be sufficient to classify 

 caribou in two main groups : 



The Barren Land Caribou, and 

 The Woodland Caribou. 



Here again the Americans have been hard at work naming 

 various local forms of these two groups. 



An interesting and highly instructive little book entitled 

 The Caribou has been recently written by Mr. Madison 

 Grant, the Secretary of the New York Zoological Society, 

 who has kindly sent me a copy of it. In speaking of the 

 basis of classification, Mr. Grant makes a remark which 

 expresses exactly the feelings of many sportsmen who are 

 not actually scientific naturalists. He says : '' Most of the 

 distinctions between caribou species are based on size, colour, 

 and antler development. The writer is perfectly aware of 

 the uncertainty of any of these tests. Size alone does not 

 often form a sufficient reason for specific distinction. Colour, 

 especially in an animal subject to seasonal variations, is apt 

 also to be an uncertain factor, and the warning of Linnaeus — 



