The North American Cervidce. 141 



genera Ccrvus and Cariacus. It is blunt and rather heavy, shaped, in 

 fact, somewhat like that of a cow, though less wide across the fore- 

 head. The form is much heavier and stouter than that of most deer. 

 During the summer, this species is dark brown on the body and legs, 

 becoming paler, and almost white on the belly and rump. The head 

 and neck are white at all seasons, and in winter a long beard or 

 mane depends from the latter. Late in the autumn, the hair through- 

 out becomes longer, and the color of the animal changes to a paler 

 cast, so that it is a faded gray or soiled white, somewhat shaded with 

 brownish on the legs and flanks. The young are at first spotted, 

 but less pronouncedly so than is the case with most of our deer. 

 The arctic form is much the smaller of the two, an adult male 

 weighing, after having been eviscerated, only from ninety to one 

 hundred and thirty pounds. This would give a live weight of 

 from one hundred and forty to two hundred pounds. The wood- 

 land form, on the other hand, is, with the exception of the moose 

 and elk, the largest of the North American deer. A good-sized 

 male will stand four feet high at the withers, and may weigh 

 from four hundred to five hundred and fifty pounds. 



The horns of the caribou are remarkably large and heavy for the 

 size of the animal, and this genus is the only one in which both sexes 

 commonly produce these outgrowths. Those of the female are 

 usually small, slender, and but slightly palmate, and bear two or 

 three small tines. In the male, however, they are long, branching 

 and irregular, most of the tines being widely expanded from above 

 downward toward their extremities, and the palmate portion termi- 

 nating at its margin in half a dozen short points. The antlers vary 

 widely in the size and shape of their branchings, and do not seem to 

 have any common form. Those of the arctic reindeer are nearly 

 twice the actual size of the woodland race, while the animal which 

 carries them is only about half as large. 



The caribou's foot is broad and spreading, and the supplementary 

 hooflets, or dew-claws, are large, the whole being admirably adapted 

 for supporting the animal in its passage through marshes or over the 

 snow. The thin, horny shell which forms the border of the hoof 

 also serves it well when traveling on the ice. The representatives 

 of the second and fourth digits contribute something to the support 

 of the animal's weight, and are always more or less worn and abraded 



