NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 309 



strength and stamina-producing properties, " yet it is neverthe- 

 less more palatable than walrus or polar bear and forms a 

 welcome change from seal meat. 



QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS CARIBOU 

 RANGIFER DAWSONI Seton 



Rangifer dawsoni Seton, Ottawa Nat., vol. 13, p. 260, Feb., 1900 (Graham Island, 



Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia). 

 FIGS.: Seton, 1900, pis. 4, 5 (type specimen, antler and skull); Sheldon, 1912, pi. 



opposite p. 234. 



This is supposed to be a small island form, darker in color 

 than the barren-ground caribou of the mainland. The single 

 antler of the type is peculiar in that the brow tine does not 

 project parallel to the forehead but turns upward and is well 

 separated from it. The terminal forks of the main beam turn 

 backward instead of extending forward. Length of type 

 antler following outer curve to highest point, 28% inches. 



Very little is known of this caribou. Indeed, its very exist- 

 ence in the Queen Charlotte Islands was doubted by Osgood 

 (1901) and it was not until years after its description that 

 satisfactory evidence of its presence on Graham Island, the 

 most northerly island of the group, was obtained. Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson, while making a geological survey of the islands in 

 1878, was the first to learn of a caribou there, but from the 

 meager description given him by the natives he at first was 

 inclined to suppose the animals were wapiti. Nevertheless he 

 noted the use of pieces of caribou antler in the implements of 

 the native Haidas. After some effort the portion of cranium 

 with an antler that afterward served as the type was secured 

 through the Indians with the aid of a local trader, on Virago 

 Sound. In 1904, 1905, and 1906, the Rev. Charles Harrison, 

 a missionary stationed there, found evidence in the shape of 

 tracks, dung, and hair. In 1906 the late Charles Sheldon 

 undertook an intensive search for caribou in the country west 

 and southwest of Virago Sound on Graham Island but found 

 nothing more than old tracks and dung. In 1908 a bull and two 

 cows were killed, and a calf was seen by two half-breeds near 

 Virago Sound, and the specimens were acquired by the Pro- 

 vincial Museum in Victoria, B. C. (Keen, 1909). In October, 

 1910, Francis Kermode found two old tracks in the same dis- 

 trict, and expressed the opinion that the form was nearly 



