CASSELL'B POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



discover the hast portion of the naked hide." This remark had been previously made by Linnan.s - 



Sir John K.chardson affirms that a suit of clothing made of deer-skin "is so impervious to the 



Jd, that with the addition of a blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may bivouac on the 



snow with safety, in the most intense cold of an Arctic winter's night." The winter clothing of all the 



3 inhabiting the Arctic circle is almost entirely composed of this inestimable fur. 

 An attempt to naturalise this species in Great Britain was made, in 1823, by Mr Bullock but 

 ed. In the autumn of that year a Norwegian, with five deer, arrived in England, which were 

 conveyed to the seat of a gentleman in Worcestershire. There they remained during the winter and 

 were fed with the lichen rangerifinu*. They continued healthy until the following April when the. 

 were removed to dec Hill, on the highest part of which that lichen grows in great abundance. All 

 however, died before long. A similar attempt was made in Ireland ; but with no better success 



ID America, according to Sir John Richardson, there are two distinct varieties of the rein-deer 

 the one called " the barren ground Caribou ;" the other, the woodland Caribou." The former " he 

 > small of stature, and weighs so little, that I have seen a Canadian voyager throw a' foil- 

 grown doe on h is shoulder, and carry it as an English butcher would a sheep. The bucks are of 

 .rger size, and weigh, when in good condition, from ninety to a hundred and thirty pounds When 

 lean, the flesh is insipid ; when fat, and in season, it is superior to that of the finest English venison 

 Chippewyans, the Copper Indians, the Dog-ribs, and Hare Indians of the Great Bear 

 ke would be totally unable to inhabit their barren grounds, were it not for the immense herds of this 

 deer hat exist there Of the Caribou horns they form their fish-spears and hooks; and, previou 



the introduction of European iron, ice-chisels and various other utensils were likewise made of 

 them. The hide, dressed with the fur on, is excellent for winter clothing, and supplies the place both 

 of blanket and feather-bed to the inhabitants of these Arctic wilds " 



The woodland Caribou is larger, scarcer, with smaller horns, and vastly inferior as food; its 

 proper country is a strip of low, primitive rocks, well clothed with wood, about a hundred miles wide 

 and extending at the distance of eighty or a hundred miles from the shores of Hudson's Bay 



" to Lake Superior> whence the herds travel southwards in the 



THE STAG, OR RED DEER* 



THIS animal if we regard the elegance of his form, the flexibility of his limbs, his bold, branching 

 >rns, and the lightness of his motions, is the most beautiful of the deer kind. The incisor teeth i 



. lower jaw alone, are eight ; there are six grinders on e*ch side, above and below. Beneath the 

 inner angle of the eye there is a deep slii, generally known as the lachrymal sinus, of the use of which 

 little is known. The ears are large and pointed. 



The antlers of the male stag are osseous structures, supported on short and solid tubercles of the 



bone After remaining nearly a year, they are c*st off, and soon replaced by a newly-formed 



itler, which is of a larger size than the one that was lost. It often weighs nearly thirty pounds, and 



ha* been known to be completely formed in ten weeks from the time of its first appearance. There is 



instance m the animal kingdom of so rapid a growth ; which is the more remarkable from its 



I m a small part of the system, and in a bony structure. After the antler has attained its full 



ition of osseous substance still continues at its base, around the trunks of the arteries 



ich proceed along the investing membrane of the bone for the purpose of conveying nourish- 



Ihe accumulation of this substance causes a ring, called the burr, round that parfof the 



tid by encroaching on the arteries themselves, it gradually diminishes their capacity of 



; blood, and they at length become entirely obliterated. The bone, no longer receiving a 



dTandThrl n e,rH U T nt> f^l * *"* '' ** int "8 mt - which * * decay, and, becomfng 



Lrivelled, are torn by rubbing against trees, and peel off in long shreds, leaving the antler 



exposed, which, by the continued effects of the same kind of friction, soon acquires a polished surface 



Mar, sufficiently nourished during many months ly its own interior vessels, continues in a 



d preserves its connection with the system; but at length the arteries shrink, and 



* Cervus Elaphus. 



