318 MAMMALIA—REINDEER. 
his horns. Thus, the reindeer alone, affords all that we desire from the 
horse, the ox, and the sheep. 
With from three to five hundred deer, a Laplander can live with tolerable 
comfort; with two hundred, he may, by management, contrive to get on; but 
with a hundred, his subsistence is precarious; and with only fifty, he must 
be content to be the partner, or rather servant, of some more fortunate 
individual. 
His food, in the winter season, is a white moss, (lichen rangiferinus,\ 
which he finds under the snow, and which he ploughs up with his horns, o 
digs up with his feet. When the snow is too deep for them to obtain this 
article, they resort to another lichen that hangs on pine trees; and in severe 
seasons the boors often cut down some thousands of these trees, to furnish 
subsistence to their herds. 
In summer, he lives upon the buds and leaves of trees, rather than herbs, 
which his forward spreading antlers will not permit him to browse on, with 
facility. They lead them to pasture, and relead them to the stable, or shut 
them up in packs during the night, to shelter them from the outrages of the 
wolves. Many fruitless attempts have been made to introduce them into 
England. There is at present, however, in the Zoological Gardens, one 
specimen, which was placed there in 1828, and appears to be still in a 
thriving condition. The following figure represents this animal. 

The reindeers have, outwardly, many things in common with the stags; 
and the formation of the interior parts is the same. The reindeer sheds his 
antlers every year, like the stag; and, like him, is good venison. The 
females, both of the one and the other species, go eight months with young, 
and produce but one ata birth. The young reindeer follows its mother 
during the first two or three years, and does not attain his growth till about 
