444 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



The horns of the bulls are often cut off entirely. The horns of none 

 of the Kolguev deer were clean until the last week in August. And 

 many were still ragged in the middle of September. Many of the 

 gelded animals never lose the velvet, though they regularly throw their 

 horns. The bull whose horns were clean began rutting at once. And 

 this is curious, because they had not nearly recovered their thick coats. 

 In this respect the Kolguev deer are much later than those on the 

 mainland. I saw no bulls with full necks till we reached the mainland 

 (Sept. 27), where we found the majority so. 



A bull is not allowed to breed after he is five years old, but a cow 

 will breed up to fifteen, and sometimes even to twenty years. 



After the cows have done breeding for the season they are not 

 infrequently used for sleigh-work, especially by the smaller owners. 



A beast is best for sleigh work at four years old. 



The calves are dropped in May and June, and are entered to sleigh 

 work at ten months old. They are trained in a team of five together ; 

 the principle of putting them with an older beast for steadiness does 

 not obtain. 



Besides ' the fly,' reindeer have an enemy in the musquito, which, 

 especially during moulting time, punctures the veins of the face. 



