110 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



adult, some of the branches of the antlers are palmated, the 

 upper branches having posterior projections. Almost inva- 

 riably, the brow-tines on one of the antlers is broadly 

 palmated. 



To interested readers, the following dimensions of a i)air 

 of antlers which the writer lately measured may not be out 

 of place. Bearing in mind that the horns in both sexes are 

 irregularly palmated, bifurcated, and rather long, we find 

 a specimen where the two main antlers are furnished with 

 irregular, sharp i^oints, some of them seven inches in length 

 but most of them quite short: Width between the horns, 

 on the skull, eight and three-fourths inches; depth, one and 

 three- fourths inches; length of main beam, three feet. There 

 is a palmated brow-antler, with four points, inclining down- 

 ward and inward; on the opposite horn there are two points, 

 but the antler is not palmated. Immediately above the 

 brow-antlers there is a branch, or prong, on each horn, about 

 fourteen inches in length, terminating in three points; these 

 prongs incline forward and inward. About half the length 

 of the horn from the skull, there is another prong on each, 

 about two inches long; beyond these prongs each horn con- 

 tinues about the same thickness, spreading outward slightly 

 to within a few inches of its extremity, where one diverges 

 into five points and the other into six. The horns are but 

 slightly channeled, and are dark yellow. Between the tips, 

 where they approach each other, the horns are tw^o feet 

 apart, and at their greatest width two feet eight inches. 



Nature has been so lavish in bestowing all this parure of 

 horn on the favored Caribou, that the small ears can hardly 

 be criticised. Five inches, posteriorly, in height, flattened, 

 very broad at the base, and tapering to the end, they are 

 less in size than those of the Elk, but more active. 



As an offset to the advantage of the Elk in the size of 

 ears, the Caribou boasts of a somewhat longer tail. It is 

 about four inches vertehrce, and, including hair, six and a 

 half inches long. 



The hoof of the Woodland Caribou gives it an advan- 

 tage over every pursuer, except the nimble Wolf. The bones 



