178 Bird-Nesting 



height of its shoulders. It does not gallop like other animals 

 of the deer kind, but advances at a shuffling kind of amble, 

 while its hoofs striking against one another make a strange 

 crackling sound which can be heard at a considerable distance. 

 Its speed, however, is great. During the winter it lives chiefly 

 in wooded hills ; in summer it frequents the swampy sides of 

 rivers and lakes, often going deep in the water to escape flies 

 and mosquitoes. 



The cariboo is also found around lakes Winnipeg and Mani- 

 toba, they are fond of the water and are great swimmers. There 

 are two varieties in North America, one called " the barren 

 ground cariboo " and the other " the woodland cariboo. The 

 former variety abounds in the Peace River countiy and swarms 

 about Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake. The Copper 

 Indians and the Dog-ribs and Hare Indians would be unable 

 to inhabit their barren grounds were it not for the immense 

 herds of this deer that exist there. 



The woodland cariboo is larger and scarcer, and inhabits the 

 wooded country stretching between Hudson's Bay and Lake 

 Superior. The cariboo is known in Europe as the rein-deer, 

 and is found in Lapland, where it is a useful animal to the Lap- 

 lander. With two of these yoked in a sledge, the Laps have 

 been known to travel more than a hundred miles a day. 



In one of the bluffs I approached quite close to a goshawk 

 which was perched on a decayed tree ; it was evidently nap- 

 ping, and the sticks cracking under my feet startled the bird. 

 The American goshawk breeds in Manitoba and Assiniboia. 

 Before me are three clutches that were collected in these pro- 

 vinces. A set of two eggs were collected at Crescent Lake. 

 Assiniboia, May 24th, 1890. They are bluish white, unspotted 

 and slightly nest-stained. These eggs measure 2.40x1.68 and 

 2.33x1.65. The nest from which these eggs were taken was 

 made of sticks, with bark and leaves, and built in a fir tree. 

 Another clutch of four eggs was taken at Lake Francis, Mani- 

 toba, May 16th, 1891. These eggs are also bluish white with- 

 out spots, and incubation had commenced. These eggs measure 

 2.16x1.73, 2.12x1.68, 2.09x1.65 and 2.05x1.70. A third clutch 



