300 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



LABRADOR BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU 

 RANGIFER ARCTICUS CABOTI G. M. Allen 



Rangifer arcticus caboti G. M. Allen, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 4, p. 104, 

 Mar. 24, 1914 (30 miles north of Nachvak, eastern Labrador, Canada). 



SYNONYM: Tarandus rangifer labradorensis Millais, The Gun at Home and Abroad, 

 vol. 4, p. 259, 1915 ("Nain, Davis Inlet, and Fort Chimo"). 



FIGS.: Grant, 1902, pis. [8, 9] (skull and antlers). 



This is the race of the Labrador Peninsula north of its 

 forested base. It is believed to be characterized by the wide 

 antlers, with very sweeping backward and forward curve, and 

 the great palmation of the brow and bez tines. If other dif- 

 ferences occur, as in color, these have not been made out. 



Dr. R. M. Anderson (1934b) writes that this caribou "is 

 found in more or less scattered bands over the treeless Arctic 

 Zone area and through parts of the scantily timbered Hud- 

 sonian Zone of the peninsula. In most of the districts near the 

 coast they have been greatly reduced in numbers, but con- 

 siderable numbers are still found in the more isolated inland 

 districts." These are regions seldom penetrated by white 

 hunters, and accurate information as to the status of this 

 animal is difficult to obtain. Low, at the beginning of this 

 century, was told by the Nascopie Indians that there were 

 three main herds or stocks: One near the coast on the high- 

 lands between Nachvak and Nain; one in the hinterland of 

 Ungava Bay that crosses the lower Koksoak and passes the 

 summer on the tundra along Ungava Bay and Hudson Strait; 

 and one on the east coast of Hudson Bay, south to Clearwater 

 Lake. Before 1886 the last herd was said to have fallen off 

 greatly. Of the second, W. B. Cabot (1912) and others have 

 witnessed something of the migrations and mention the hunting 

 of the migrating animals by the Indians who rely partly on the 

 caribou for sustenance. Prichard (1910) states that these 

 animals often work out to the coast by November, and at 

 that time a good many may be taken, but their appearance is 

 not to be counted on, and they may come out at different 

 points in different seasons. There is some evidence that ex- 

 tensive fires have destroyed the available food in parts of their 

 range, thus excluding them from return to such districts. 



There is every reason to believe that this caribou never 

 crosses the rough water and ice of Hudson Strait to Baffin 

 Land but is isolated on the Labrador Peninsula. To the south- 



