316 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



yellowish- white hairs paling on flanks to white. Face and inner 

 surface of ears rich bister brown, nose and chin white; tail 

 short, drab above, white beneath (Bangs). The antlers are 

 rather distinctive, being "low, widely spread, much forked and 

 with the points pointing forward and inward" (Bangs). They 

 are, in a well-developed head, rather shorter of beam, with 

 large palmated brow and bez tines. The skull is said also to 

 be somewhat larger than in the typical woodland caribou. 

 An adult male stands from 46 to 49 inches at the shoulder. 

 Does are in about half of the cases provided with small branch- 

 ing antlers. Weight of a full-grown male up to about 300 

 pounds. 



Both Prichard (1910) and Dugmore (1913) have given 

 excellent accounts with illustrations of this caribou. According 

 to the former, the population of this species in the first decade 

 of the present century was said to consist of three groups: 

 One north of the railway that crosses the island from east to 

 west, especially frequenting the Humber River valleys and 

 Birchy Lake region; the main herd, largely south of the rail- 

 road, inhabiting the central and southern parts; and a small 

 "herd" consisting of a few animals that still survive in the 

 Avalon Peninsula, south of St. John's. The last group is 

 believed to be nonmigratory, but the other groups perform 

 annual north and south migrations, with more or less regularity, 

 although they may not always be found at the same places in 

 different seasons. The first of these groups is said to be the 

 best known and most accessible and crosses the railway in its 

 southward wanderings, especially in the vicinity of Howley. 

 To this region resort the greater number of sportsmen in 

 search of trophies and of settlers who to some extent depend 

 on caribou meat. 



In 1913 Dugmore believed that a conservative estimate of 

 the caribou population of the island was not less than 150,000 

 animals. Some estimates were much larger. It is difficult to 

 judge of the general status, since those visiting the hunting 

 grounds annually for short seasons may not find the larger 

 groups each time or the caribou may be for various reasons 

 less in evidence in different years. The interior barrens are 

 vast and travel is difficult. Nevertheless the consensus seems 

 to be that the numbers have greatly declined in the last two 

 decades, owing in large part to overshooting. Jacobi (1931) 



