140 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



a peculiar food, and endows them with the instinct to 

 discover it. The lichens at this season are^ as Dr. 

 Richardson observes, uncommonly tender and pulpy, 

 being preserved moist and unfrozen by the heat still 

 remaining in the earth : the deer seem to be aware 

 of this, and propelled by instinct to such spots as are 

 congenial to the growth of their favourite food ; but 

 where it is entirely concealed, they procure a certain 

 supply of it by scraping away the snow with their feet. 



The exquisite adaptation of the fur of the reindeer 

 to resist cold, has been the general subject of admiration 

 with all travellers. Dr. Richardson says, that from the 

 closeness of the hair, and the hghtness of the skin, it is 

 the most appropriate clothing that can be used in the 

 arctic latitudes. It is, in short, so impervious to cold, 

 that, with the addition of a blanket of the same material, 

 any one so clothed may bivouac on the snow with 

 safety, in the most intense cold of an arctic winter's 

 night. Sir A. Brooke observes, '' that the hairs com- 

 posing their coat are indeed so thick, that it is hardly 

 possible, by separating them in any way, to discern the 

 least portion of their naked hide." 



The colour of this reindeer, in its summer dress, is 

 of a clove brown, mingled with deep reddish and yellow- 

 ish browns ; the under surface of the neck, the limbs, 

 and the belly being white : the hoofs are very large, 

 and greatly spread ; and the posterior ones make a loud 

 clattering noise when the animal runs. In regard to 

 the characters which some naturalists have attempted to 

 draw, from the configuration of the horns, of the Ame- 

 rican and European races, the remarks of Dr. Richard- 

 son impress us with a belief that they are altogether 

 futile : this opinion, in fact, had been expressed by 

 baron Cuvier, who seems to think that the only cha- 

 racter common to all he has examined (including, as we 

 presume, both the American and the European races), 

 is the smoothness and compression of the horns in every 

 part, except in the very small portion connected to the 

 burr. 



