NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 315 



liminary conditioning were brought in 1938 to the refuge. 

 Nearly a year later the bull was seen ranging with the cows. 

 The calves, however, were kept in a corral and small pasture 

 and later were transferred to a larger fenced area, to be liberated 

 later. At last accounts the little group was thriving encourag- 

 ingly, and every effort is being made to ensure the success of 

 the attempt at colonization. The danger is that the animals 

 may wander outside the reserve and fall prey to settlers or the 

 Indians on a nearby reservation. 



To sum up, the woodland caribou, once so common in the 

 muskeg areas from Nova Scotia to western Minnesota and 

 north to southern Labrador and James Bay, is now everywhere 

 so greatly reduced that it is in actual danger of extermination. 

 South of the St. Lawrence a single small group still exists in 

 the mountains of northern Gaspe; it is gone from Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, southern Quebec and northern New England. 

 A few scattered groups still remain in southern Labrador, but 

 to the westward it is all but gone from Ontario, and a very 

 small group still holds out in northern Minnesota. The main 

 factor in its extermination has no doubt been overshooting; 

 other factors are doubtless the animal's innate aversion to the 

 presence of settlements, thus tending to a restriction of its 

 range and lowered prolificness, its gregarious habits and curi- 

 osity often making easier the killing of several individuals at 

 a time by hunters; finally forest fires may affect the food 

 supply, and wolves, though fewer now than formerly, may be 

 a factor. Of possible diseases nothing is known, but that deer 

 of this group are subject to serious attack by bot flies is well 

 ascertained, although what effect these may have in causing 

 lowered vitality is not clear. 



NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 

 RANGIFER TERRAENOVAE Bangs 



Rangifer terraenovae Bangs, Preliminary Description of the Newfoundland Caribou, 

 p. 2, Nov. 11, 1896 (privately printed) ("Codroy, Newfoundland"). 



FIGS.: Grant, 1902, two pis. unnumbered (14, 15) (heads); Prichard, 1910, col. pi. 

 opposite p. 80; Dugmore, 1913, many photographs. 



The caribou of Newfoundland is not very different in general 

 from the woodland caribou of the neighboring mainland, even 

 though usually accorded specific status. It is said to be lighter 

 in color, the back, sides, and legs drab, somewhat mixed with 



