BARREN GROUND CARIBOU 97 



that the Woodland Caribou are not numerous anywhere in 

 the Canadian Northwest Territories, for in all rny travels for 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, extending over the period 

 from 1883 to 1898, I did not see a dozen of those animals, 

 though on hundreds of different occasions I saw their great 

 wide-spreading tracks. The only one I ever shot was feeding 

 on a rocky hill, beside a stream that flows into the east 

 side of Lake Winnipeg; and his head is now hanging in the 

 Museum of the Geological Survey, in Ottawa. 



'The smaller species of Caribou lives on the Barren 

 Grounds during the summer. On the approach of winter 

 most of the animals migrate southward to the edge of the 

 forest, though some remain throughout the winter on the 

 open barrens. 



'Twice, in 1893 and 1894, I met what is known as 'the 

 herd,' on its way southward, once on a good feeding ground, 

 where hundreds of thousands were collected together, and 

 again on a rough, rocky tract where the individual bands 

 rarely exceeded a few hundred in number, and all were on 

 the run." 



Barren Ground Caribou Group 



Throughout a vast and very hungry sweep of northlands, 

 the Barren Ground Caribou 1 long has been, and still is, 

 an animal of leading interest and value. To many Indian 

 tribes, such as the Dog-Ribs and Yellow Knives, and to many 

 of the Eskimo tribes also, it has been an important source 

 of subsistence, both in food and clothing. It is so peculiarly 



1 Ran'gi-fer arc'ti-cus. 



