318 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



enemy. On the other hand, the swarms of black flies and 

 mosquitoes must be a great source of annoyance to the animals 

 as they are to human beings at this season. "During the 

 warmer months the caribou are more or less solitary in habit, 

 going about singly or in pairs and only rarely in small herds of 

 half-a-dozen or more. In the day-time they keep very largely 

 to the woods, coming out to feed at the approach of evening 

 . . by September their habits have completely changed 

 and they become almost entirely diurnal," and bands gather. 

 An attempt is being made to introduce this caribou from 

 Newfoundland into Nova Scotia, in the hope that it may, if the 

 plan is successful, in time replace to a certain extent the 

 eastern woodland caribou, which has for a number of years 

 been extinct in this province. On April 10, 1939, nine females, 

 of which five were "with calf," arrived in Halifax from New- 

 foundland. The five pregnant females were at once taken to the 

 Liscombe Game Sanctuary in Guysboro County, while the 

 four others were being held temporarily at Halifax pending the 

 arrival of the three males, which were to be imported in order 

 to start this new herd (R. W. Tufts, 1939). The result of this 

 experiment may be awaited with interest. 



WESTERN WOODLAND CARIBOU 

 RANGFIER CARIBOU SYLVESTRIS (Richardson) 



Genus tarandus var. (3 sylvestris Richardson, Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. 1, p. 250, 



1829 (southwestern shores of Hudson Bay). 

 FIG.: Hollister, 1912b, pi. 2, fig. 2 (skull). 



The western woodland caribou is much the same as the 

 eastern animal, but according to Hollister (1912b) it may be 

 distinguished by its longer and slenderer skull, with a narrower 

 rostrum and larger teeth. The tooth rows, especially the lower, 

 are longer. The neck and head are darker, the ears, back, and 

 sides of the neck are much darker, the hairs brown to their 

 roots. Total length of a male skull, 417 mm.; upper tooth 

 row, 107 mm. These characters, while not very sharply 

 marked, are supposed to distinguish the animals west of Hud- 

 son Bay; presumably those of the Lake Superior region and 

 James Bay are intermediate but may be referable to this 

 rather than to the typical race. 



The precise range of this race has not been well defined but 

 is believed to have originally extended from the southwestern 



