DOMESTICATED REINDEEB INTO ALASKA. 39 



The wind commenced to blow hard toward dark, and some snow 

 was Oying. I asked the herders it' there was not danger of the young 

 one dying from eold, and thought, if there was, we would have it 

 brought to the house. The idea was scoffed at by the Siberians, and 

 their folly cost us our firstborn. In the morning it was found to have 

 perished from cold. 



On March 8 a female got injured, probably in trying to escape from 

 a bull. The head of a fawn protruded from her womb, but it was life- 

 less, and she was unable to give birth to it. So it was taken from her. 

 Another fawn was found in a female killed on account of a broken leg. 

 In both instances the fawns would have been born within two months. 



On April (! a female that was feeding some distance from the herd 

 gave birth to a fawn during the night and it was found dead. The 

 mother had broken one of her hind legs some weeks before^ and after 

 splinting and bandaging it, she was turned loose. The fawn was 

 doubtless a premature birth, as it was very thin. Further reference 

 will be made to this deer in another part of my report. 



The first birth that occurred naturally that lived was on the night of 

 April 13, and the following day four more were born. Although freezing 

 cold, and the ground was covered with snow, the weather was pleasant, 

 and the youngsters seemed to be doing so nicely that it was thought 

 best to let them remain with the herd. They all survived and gained 

 strength rapidly. Between this date and the 23d of the month twenty- 

 three were born, and at the close of the month the number had 

 increased to sixty, and not a death occurred among them. The weather 

 had moderated, and the sun had shown with so much warmth toward 

 the end of the month that for a few hours each day the snow had 

 thawed. 



In a number of instances the fawns were dropped where the snow 

 was several inches deep, and they did not seem to chill or suffer any 

 inconvenience. When a few hours old, and it had been suckled by its 

 mother, it would quietly lie down on the snow and sleep as calmly as 

 if its bed had been of down. When a few days old it was a common 

 thing to see one or more of them capering over the snow with a pace 

 its mother could not equal, and they would frolic in this way for some 

 minutes, and then drop down on the snow and quietly sleep off their 

 fatigue. 



The Siberian herders say that a female does not give birth to her 

 fawn until she has shed her horns. This was not brought to my atten- 

 tion until most of the fawns were born, and I can not say whether it is 

 always the case or not. In a half dozen instances in which I watched 

 for such a result, however, it proved to be true. 



It seems that the danger of young dying is when exposed to cold 

 wind or snowstorms soon after it is born, or in eold, rainy weather. 

 The dampness penetrates to the flesh and chills them to death. 



The color of a fawn when born is generally of a dark brown, but they 



