DEER. 373 



come to the American varieties, but it is important that the periodical migrations 

 of these animals which take place in Siberia should be noticed here. Admiral von 

 Wrangel, when in Eastern Siberia, had an opportunity of seeing such migrations 

 on more than one occasion; and he relates that the moving masses might be 

 reckoned to include thousands of individuals, split up into herds of two or three 

 handled head. On one of these occasions the Admiral states that "two large 

 migrating bodies of reindeer passed at no gi-eat distance. They were descending 

 the hills from the north-west, and crossing the plain on their way to the forests, 

 where they spend the winter. Both bodies of deer extended further than the eye 

 could reach, and formed a compact mass narrowing to the front. They moved 

 slowly and majestically along, their broad antlers resembling a moving wood of 

 leafless trees. Each body was led by a deer of unusual size, which my guides 

 assured me was always a female." 



These southerly winter migrations of the reindeer are of considerable import- 

 ance in regard to the former occurrence of this animal in Southern Europe ; for 

 since its remains are not unfrequently found in association with those of the 

 hippopotamus, we can scarcely assume that in such localities at any rate the climate 

 could have been otherwise than comparatively mild. Accordingly, the most 

 probable hypothesis seems to be that in the Pleistocene period the reindeer, driven 

 by the intense cold of the more northern portions of its habitat, must have travelled 

 so far south during the winter till it reached regions where the rivers were suitable 

 for the habitation of the hippopotamus. 



At the present day reindeer are unknown in the Old World to the south of a 

 parallel running a little below the southern shore of the Baltic ; it appears, however, 

 that in the time of Csesar they were met with in the Black Forest of Northern 

 Germany, although whether as permanent residents or as winter immigrants, cannot, 

 of course, be now ascertained. In the British Isles, remains of reindeer are com- 

 monly met with in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and it was long considered that 

 in Caithness this deer survived till the middle of the 12th century, although the 

 latest researches tend to discountenance this idea. Keindeer remains are also found 

 over the Continent, occurring as far south as the valleys of the Dordogne and 

 Garonne in France. 



Turning now to the American reindeer, which, as aforesaid, are 

 Caribou. ° 



characterised by the great development and palmation of one brow- 

 tine of the antlers, and the abortion of the other, we find there are two well-marked 

 varieties. The first and smaller of these is the barren-ground caribou, the R. 

 grcenlandicus of those who regard it as a distinct species. This reindeer is found 

 only in the barren Arctic districts lying to the northwards of the forest-region of 

 North America. It is abundant in the desolate regions to the northward of Fort 

 Churchill, whence it extends to the confines of the Arctic Ocean. This form, 

 although much inferior in point of size to the woodland caribou, has larger 

 antlers ; and it is mainly on the latter ground that American zoologists urge its 

 right to be reckoned as a distinct species. Although confined in summer to the 

 so-called " barren-grounds," this variety of the reindeer makes extensive southerly 

 migrations in autumn, in order to spend the winter in the forest-regions tenanted 

 by the woodland caribou It appears, however, that even when inhabiting the 



