THE CAEIBOU. 



95 



until nearly full-grown, and, when killed, tkey were in all 

 points still different and distinct in the color of their fur. 

 Doubtless there are many j)eculiarities relating to some of 

 the Deer family yet tabe revealed by careful future investi- 

 gation. And there is no more valuable source from which 

 the naturalist may draw for inforaiation than on these 

 same simple dwellers in the forest, the men who live by 

 hunting and by woodcraft. 



Hitherto, the standard naturalists of the world have con- 

 tributed to the fund of general information a vast amount of 

 useful knowledge, which will in future be supplemented 

 by many strange revelations which are at present in the vale 

 of mystery. 



No single writer, so far as my researches have gone, has 

 devoted so much time, money, and talent to the history of 

 the Deer family as Judge John D. Caton, of Ottawa, Illinois. 

 Few, if any, have had, or rather made, such ample oppor- 

 tunities of studying and observing the characteristics of the 

 Cermdce of the world. In my opinion, no other writer or 

 investigator of this most interesting group of animals has 

 turned his grand opportunities so persistently, patiently, 

 and practically to such good account. 



THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU. 



This animal is smaller than the common Deer {Cervus 

 Virginlanus). General color, clove-brown in summer, 

 whitish in winter. Inhabits the "Barren Grounds" and 

 Arctic regions of North America. 



There are two species of Reindeer — commonly called 

 Caribou — in North America, conlined in their geographical 

 distribution, to the eastern and northern portions of the 

 continent. The Barren-ground Caribou is abundant, in 

 the summer season, in a tract of barren, treeless country 

 bounded on the south by the Churchill River, on the west 

 by the Great Slave, Athabasca, Wallasten, and Deer Lakes, 

 and the Cox;)permine River, while toward the north its 

 range stretches away quite to the Polar Seas, From the cir- 

 cumstance of its being the only Deer found in this desolate 



