THE DEER FAMILY. 



85 



One brow-tine, sometimes the right, some- 

 times the left, is always longer than the 

 other; it turns and curves inwards so that its 

 blade becomes perpendicular to the middle 

 line of the nose, thus forming a broad spade 



which the animal makes use of to sweep away 

 the snow under which it seeks its food. After 

 giving off the two pairs of unlike tines of 

 which we have spoken, the long drawn-out 

 beam of the antler bends round in the manner 



Fig. 163. — The Reindeer (Tarandus rangifer). 



described and terminates in a small blade 

 bordered with very irregular teeth. The 

 coat of the reindeer consists in winter of a 

 thick woolly fur with very long hair, which 

 forms a long mane-like beard under the neck ; 

 this dirty-gray winter fur is shed in summer 

 in large tufts disclosing to view the darker 

 and shorter summer hair. The gait of the 

 reindeer even in running is very inelegant; 

 it takes very long strides, and appears rather 

 to slide along the surface than to run. The 

 divergence of the hoofs, which are, more- 

 over, very broad, is admirably adapted to aid 

 its movements across the snow and across 



bogs. While walking or running it causes a 

 crackling sound to be heard almost like that 

 of an electric spark; this noise is no doubt 

 produced in the interior of the joints. 



The reindeer in the wild state must of 

 course be distinguished from the animal in a 

 half-domesticated condition. 



The former is an animal of the plains and 

 high plateaux, which shelters itself in winter 

 in the woods, and only in summer ventures 

 into treeless low grounds. Such are the 

 habits of the wild reindeer in America, 

 Siberia, and even in Lapland. The reindeer 

 has erroneously been considered as a climbing 



