298 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



separated by a long interval from the third tine, . . . back 

 tine usually, if not always, wanting; female antlers much 

 smaller, simpler, and scarcely curved at all" (Lydekker). In 

 the few specimens available the antlers seem to be less spreading 

 than in other races, but, as Murie has shown, there is great 

 individual variation in their form. 



The range of this subspecies is believed to be continental 

 North America from the west side of Hudson Bay to the Mac- 

 kenzie River and northeastward to include Boothia, South- 

 ampton Island, and Baffin Island. The migratory habit so 

 characteristic of caribou leads to more or less irregular wander- 

 ing, apparently in search of better feeding areas, and the ani- 

 mals often congregate and pass through certain sections in 

 great numbers, while in other seasons they may hardly be 

 found at all. This uncertainty leads at times to much hardship 

 on the part of Indians and Eskimos who depend upon them as 

 a source of food. Preble (1902) states that the southern limit 

 of the barren-ground caribou on the west coast of Hudson Bay 

 is Churchill River. "Even in former years these caribou were 

 seldom known to cross that river, and they are still killed within 

 a few miles of Fort Churchill. Farther inland they reach the 

 south end of Reindeer Lake." In his later paper on the 

 Athabaska-Mackenzie region, Preble (1908) has given a de- 

 tailed account of the presence of this animal as recorded by 

 various travelers along the western part of the barren grounds, 

 the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and the outlying large islands 

 as Banks Land and Victoria Land. "As winter approaches, 

 the caribou which have summered on the Barren Grounds 

 move southward in herds, many of which enter the wooded 

 country. Their movements are more or less irregular. " Few 

 persons traverse the inland barrens so that this race probably 

 remains, as Dr. R. M. Anderson says (1939b), "the most 

 numerous of all the caribou, although now very rare or missing 

 from much of its fairly recent former range along the Arctic 

 coast." Nevertheless, he adds, it "has perhaps not been 

 greatly reduced in total numbers, as where it has disappeared 

 many of the natives have not followed the caribou. The 

 caribou have also retreated farther from the shores of Hudson 

 Bay, and there have been many reports of large concentrations 

 of caribou in the interior east of Great Slave Lake and south of 

 Bathurst Inlet. In some cases shifting of range is due to human 



