THE NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 311 



amongst all mammals and birds, namely, the absence of a 

 proper food supply for great numbers. When the winter sets 

 in the frost is more intense in forests, and the snow deeper. 

 This causes a " trek " to some area where the wind blows the 

 snow from the exposed ridges, and renders the moss easier 

 to obtain. For converse reasons and the laws of greater 

 protection, the deer return to the woods in spring. I think, 

 therefore, that when the general habits of the American 

 caribou are better known, and their migrations and horn 

 growths, &c., better understood, we shall do away with 

 several of these hastily constructed species, as well as the 

 erroneous titles of Woodland and Barren-ground, which are 

 quite inapplicable. 



The Newfoundland caribou [Tarandus rangifer or Tar- 

 andtis rangifer terrce-novee , Bangs, whichever the reader 

 may prefer to call it) stands about 48 inches at the shoulder 

 (I have measured one 52 inches), 6 feet 8 inches in length, 

 and weighs from 300 to 400 lbs. By the end of September 

 most of the males have white necks and beards, but I have 

 seen a few that were grey all over the neck. The ears and 

 throat mane are always white, but the face and cheeks are 

 generally grizzled, and are seldom, even in the darkest 

 examples, as black as those of Eastern Canada. Sometimes 

 a dark line of hair runs down the back of the neck, and 

 there is always a black or dark brown bunch of hair on the 

 upper surface of the tail. The upper parts of the body are 

 dark or pale brown, but in this respect they are very 

 variable, being almost pure white over the whole of the 

 body in the light variety of this race. These white examples 

 are found in nearly all local races of reindeer. The various 

 names of the different ages of both sexes are thus recognised 

 by the Newfoundland Micmacs : — 



