BARREN GROUND CARIBOU 



239 



hold them until about the first part of January. Two- 

 year-old bulls and cows do not cast their antlers. 



The skin of the caribou is at its prime for the purpose 

 of capote-making in the month of August, when they have 

 shed their heavy winter coat and grown their lighter sum- 

 mer one. In the early spring the hair is too thick and 

 heavy, and apt to break and fall out, besides which the 

 majority of the skins are perforated by the grub which 

 have been laid by a species of gadfly on the caribou the 

 previous summer. 



There is another kind of fly that lays its eggs in the 

 nostrils of the caribou, which results in a nest of grubs 

 that makes its life miserable 

 during early summer. 



Surely the caribou seems to 

 be a much persecuted animal. 

 It has many enemies besides 

 the Indian, and none more im- 

 placable than the arctic wolves, 

 which in summer are constant- 

 ly on its track. It has been 

 said that the wolverine attacks 

 the caribou, but I failed to 

 obtain corroborative evidence. 

 The wolverine is an animal of 

 extraordinary power for one of 

 its size, but it is not swift 

 enough to catch the caribou, 

 nor has it the endurance to fol- 

 low in a long chase like the 

 wolf. It is the Northland 

 scavenger, and steals after the 

 wounded caribou or breaks into and robs the caches. 



Probably the condition of being fat or lean makes a 



CARIBOU HOOF, SHOWING CON- 

 CAVE AND SHARP EDGES 



