PECULIARITIES OF THE CARIBOU 87 



damage arise for adjustment. It is the state law that each 

 county shall consider the damage claims of its citizens, and 

 pay from the county treasury whatever awards are finally 

 approved. The law works expeditiously, and so satisfac- 

 torily that its future seems assured. The whole subject is 

 covered in "Our Vanishing Wild Life," page 241. 



By way of illustration it may be stated that in the two 

 years 1908-9 the people of Vermont paid out only $4,865 

 in compensation for damages inflicted by deer, and in the 

 same period they killed and consumed 7,186 wild deer, worth 

 about $107,790. As a business proposition the soundness of 

 the Vermont basis leaves no room for argument. All that is 

 necessary anywhere in handling damages by deer is a sensible 

 law, honesty and truthfulness on the part of the claimant, 

 and prompt adjustment by the proper county officers. The 

 theory is that the quota of deer killed and consumed in each 

 county affected amply justifies the county in paying dam- 

 ages from public funds. In Vermont the great majority of 



claims for damages are under $10 each. 



. ... 3 .>. ,. . 



The Flat-Horned Deer 



THE CARIBOU. In general terms it may be stated that a 

 Caribou (pronounced car'ry-boo) is a wild deer-like animal, 

 which bears a general resemblance to the domestic reindeer 

 of Europe. Its antlers are long, branching, partly round 

 and partly palmated. Considered as a whole, Caribou occupy 

 the upper half of the continent of North America, over which 

 they are widely scattered above the 45th parallel of latitude. 



Next to the musk-ox, the Caribou is the most northerly of 



