The Zoologist— March, 1870. 2045 



constant, and measure nearly tliree-qnarters of an inch long by the 

 same in breadth ; but I saw two specimens killed at Brown Point, on 

 the N.W. coast, v^hich differed in having the black at the tips 

 extending down the outside edge of each ear almost to the base. 

 This variation excited the curiosity of all the settlers who saw the 

 specimens, and must therefore, I think, be uncommon. The flesh of 

 the polar hare is not so palatable as that of its English representative, 

 which is mainly owing perhaps to its winter food consisting almost 

 exclusively of the young and tender shoots of birch, called "browse." 

 It feeds only during the night or early morning, retiring to its "form" 

 on the approach of day, at which time it never stirs unless disturbed. 

 In my notes on the snowy owl [Nyclea nlvea) I have inadvertently 

 staled that it preys on the polar hare : other writers have said the 

 same, but 1 think on insufl5cient evidence, and I am now inclined to 

 withdraw thai; statement, as the snowy owl is cliiefly a day- flying 

 species, while the polar hare is only abroad during the hours of night 

 or twilight. Besides, where both animals are common it is strange 

 that this circumstance, if a fact, should have escaped the observation 

 of the observant settlers. 



Cervid.«. 

 Woodlaud Cariboo or American Reindeer, 'R&r\^\{ey ca.nhou {Kerr). 

 — Large herds of these deer still frequent the high lands, although 

 hundreds are annually killed by the settlers and Indians, and many 

 others by the wolves, which are continually chasing them from place 

 to place especially during the winter months, when the majority of the 

 deer leave the mountains and come to the plains below to feed on the 

 "browse" of the birch. The settlers generally go on the hills deer- 

 hunting about the middle of September, which is just prior to the 

 rutting season, and consequently at a time when the stags are in their 

 best condition. The table-land frequented by the cariboo is about 

 two thousand feet above sea-level, and there, although some parts are 

 swampy, the vegetation is scanty — so much so that in deer-hunting the 

 few granitic boulders lying about on the surface or projecting through 

 the thin soil supply the place of trees and bushes to screen the hunter 

 when stalking in that barren district. In this "land of fog" it is not 

 every day that the hunter can venture on these hills. On the 2oih of 

 September, 18G6, I started on a deer-hunting excursion with four 

 brothers of the name of Payne (originally from Dorsetshire). With a 

 fair wind we sailed up Parson's Pond about eight miles, landed and 



