96 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



summer, as the excellent man and author lately 

 mentioned states, seek the coast of the Arctic 

 seas : it is singular that the females, driven from 

 the woods by the musquitos, migrate thither 

 before the males, generally in the month of May 

 (some say in April and March), while the latter 

 do not begin their march till towards the end of 

 June. At this time the sun has dried up the 

 lichens on the Barren Grounds, and the moist 

 pastures in the valleys of the coast and islands of 

 the above seas afford them sufficient food. Soon 

 after their arrival the females drop their young. 

 They commence their return to the south in 

 September, and reach the vicinity of the woods 

 towards the end of October. After the rutting 

 season, which takes place in September, the 

 males and females live separately ; the former 

 retire deeper into the woods, while the pregnant 

 herds of the latter remain in the skirts of the 

 Barren Grounds, which abound in the rein-deer 1 

 and other lichens. In the woods, they feed on 

 lichens which hang from the trees, and on the 

 long grass of the swamps. The males do not 

 usually go so far north as the females. Co- 

 lumns, consisting of eight or ten thousand of 

 these Caribous, so numerous are they in North 

 America, may be seen annually passing from 

 north to south in the spring, infested and attacked 



1 Cenomyce rangiferlna. Achar. 



