104 HOOFED ANIMALS 



lives by a hasty retreat to the woods. This is a common 

 danger in the autumn, as the Caribou, coining in from the 

 •Barren Grounds, join together in one vast herd, and do not 

 scatter much till they reach the thick timber. 



"The Caribou, as is usually the case when they are in 

 large numbers, were very tame, and on several occasions I 

 found myself right in the middle of a band, with a splendid 

 chance to pick out any that seemed in good condition. . . . 

 Notwithstanding all the tall stories that are told of their 

 numbers [the buffaloes], I cannot believe that the herds on 

 the prairie ever surpassed in size La joule of the Caribou." 



Size and Antlers. — At present the size of the Barren 

 Ground Caribou appears to be a matter of opinion rather 

 than of observation and record. In the hope that some one 

 will come forward and disprove it, I venture to make the 

 assertion that no one ever has weighed a whole, full-grown 

 male specimen. We have a few figures of "dressed" weight, 

 and various "abouts," but really useful facts are lacking. It 

 is currently believed that the Barren Ground Caribou of 

 northern Canada is about one-third lighter than the Woodland 

 species of Ontario and Quebec. If this be true, and we may 

 judge by our own Woodland bull, which unquestionably was 

 a large one (48 inches high; weight, 261 pounds), then the 

 male Barren Ground animal may be set down as weighing 

 174 pounds. For the Greenland Caribou and Grant's Caribou, 

 this weight surely is too low; for the skulls and skins of both 

 these species indicate a greater weight. On the Alaskan Pen- 

 insula Mr. C. H. Townsend weighed a dressed specimen 

 of Rangifer granti and estimated very carefully the weight 



