NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Description, &c. 



the same manner that the claw of the ptarmi- 

 gan is defended by feathery bristles. Both sexes 

 are furnished with horns, but those of the male 

 are considerably the largest. These are long, 

 slender, branched, and furnished with brow ant- 

 lers. It may Also be remarked, that the same 

 necessity which obliges the Laplanders to use 

 snow shoes, makes the extraordinary width of 

 the rein-deer's hoofs to be equally convenient in 

 passing over snow, as it prevents their sinking 

 too deep. This quadruped has, therefore, an in- 

 stinct to use a hoof of such a form in a still more 

 advantageous manner, by separating it when the 

 foot is to touch the ground, so as to cover a 

 larger surface of snow. The instant, however, 

 that the leg is raised, the width of the foot be- 

 comes inconvenient : the hoof, therefore, is then 

 immediately contracted, and the collision of the 

 parts occasions a snapping or crackling noise, 

 which is heard upon every motion of the animal. 



Pontopiddan, bishop of Bergen, in Norway, 

 informs us, that " the rein-deer has over his eye- 

 lids a kind of skin, through which it peeps, when 

 otherwise, in hard showers of snow, it would be 

 obliged to shut its eyes entirely." 



To the natives of Lapland this animal is an 

 excellent substitute for the horse, the cow, the 

 goat, and the sheep ; and may be said to corisii- 

 tute their only real wealth. The milk afi Is 

 them cheese; the flesh, food; the skin, clothing; 

 .the tendons, bow-strings and thread ; the horns, 



