OF THE LARGE AMERICAN MAMMALS 227 



hanging in my wood-shed, but back in the woods I have a 

 little shack where I keep the others until I want them." 



The real sportsmen of the world never will make the 

 slightest perceptible impression on the caribou of Newfound- 

 land. For one thing, the hunting is much too tame to be 

 interesting. If the caribou of that island ever are extermi- 

 nated, it will be strictly by the people of Newfoundland them- 

 selves. If the Government will tighten its grip on the herds, 

 they need never be exterminated. 



The caribou of New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario are 

 few and widely scattered. Unless carefully conserved they 

 are not likely to last long; for their country is annually pene- 

 trated in every direction by armed men, white and red. There 

 is no means by which it can be proven, but from the number 

 of armed men in those regions I feel sure that the typical 

 woodland caribou species is being shot faster than it is breed- 

 ing. The sportsmen and naturalists of Canada, and espe- 

 cially those of New Brunswick, would render good service by 

 making a close and careful investigation of that question. 



The caribou of the northwestern wilderness are in a situ- 

 ation peculiarly their own. They inhabit a region of naked 

 mountains and thin forests, wherein they are conspicuous, 

 easily stalked and easily killed. Nowhere do they exist in 

 large herds of thousands, or even of many hundreds. They 

 live in small bands of from ten to twenty head, and even 

 those are far apart. The region in which they live is certain 

 to be thoroughly opened up by railways and exploited. Fifty 

 years from now we shall find every portion of the now wild 

 Northwest fairly accessible by rail. The building of the 



