84 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



by their ankle joints when in motion, and which can be distinctly 

 heard at a distance of forty or fifty feet. When several are moving 

 together the crackling sounds are continuous. 



In the Caribou the secondary hoofs are much larger and more 

 functional than in others of our Deer and play an important part in 

 the economy of the animal. Caton says, * ''In traveling through the 

 snows, or soft marshy ground, the Caribou throws his hind feet forward, 

 so as to bring the leg into something of a horizontal position, spreads 

 wide his claws, and broad accessory hoofs, and thus presents an extra- 

 ordinary bearing surface to sustain him on the yielding ground, and 

 so he is enabled to shuffle along with great rapidity, where any other 

 large quadruped would mire in a bog, or become absolutely snow- 

 bound." 



While, so far as known, no attempt has been made by our native 

 inhabitants to domesticate these animals, the Old World Reindeer 



Rangifer caribou 



Map illustrating the approximate range of the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer caribou) in eastern 

 North America. North of about latitude 55° it is replaced by R. arclicus and in New Foundland by 

 R. terraenovcE. 



Rangifer caribou (Gmel.). Type locality — Eastern Canada. Description as 

 previously given. 



Rangifer terraenova Bangs. (Prelim. Descript. New Foundland Caribou, Nov. ii, 



1896, p. i). Type locality — Codroy, New Foundland. Paler than caribou, with 



a whitish ring around the eye; antlers larger and heavier. 

 Rangifer arclicus (Richardson) (Fauna Bor. Amer., I, 1829, p. 241.) Type locality — 



Arctic Coast of America. Smaller than caribou; paler and grayer, becoming 



whitish in winter; antlers smaller. 



* Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, P- 90- 



