106 THE DEER OF AMERICA. ' 



does not say so directly. While he treats these two species in 

 separate articles, yet he introduces both under the specific name 

 of the Lapland reindeer, Cervus tarandtis., the smaller variety he 

 designates aretica, and the larger, sylvestris, so that he is far 

 from asserting a specific difPerence. Audubon and Bachman, 

 with very limited opportunities for judging, incline to the opin- 

 ion of specific identity, and Baird leaves the question undecided. 

 After much study and reflection I am of opinion that they are 

 distinct species. 



The range of this deer extends from the Atlantic Ocean on the 

 east, to Mackenzie's River or the Rocky Mountains on the west. 

 Beyond this it is replaced by the woodland caribou. On the 

 north it extends its range beyond the continent and visits the 

 islands of the Arctic Ocean. Richardson fixes tlieir southern 

 limits on the east, at Churchill in north latitude 59° on Hudson's 

 Bay, but Mr. McTavish, of the Hudson's Bay Company, informs 

 me that they are found still further south on the peninsula of Lab- 

 rador. Westward of this point they do not come so far south ; so 

 that the line of their southern limits from the Atlantic pursues a 

 course north of west. This may be accounted for by the fact, 

 that the temperature is much colder on the eastern coast than in 

 the same latitudes in the interior and on the western coast. 

 Captain Hall found them north and east of Hudson's Bay, and 

 nearly all arctic explorers have found them on the islands of the 

 Arctic Sea, where they serve to supplement the supply of sea 

 food to the Esquimaux. They are very abundant on the penin- 

 sula east of Hudson's Bay, where from necessity their migratory 

 range is very circumscribed. Its habits are more arctic than 

 anj'^ other ruminant of this continent except the musk-ox, which 

 affects the same frigid temperature, but is even less widely dis- 

 tributed and far less numerous. 



The statement of Dr. King, as quoted by Baird, for the pur- 

 pose of showing a specific difference between the barren-ground 

 and the woodland caribou is this : " that the barren-ground species 

 is peculiar not only in the form of its liver but in not possessing 

 a receptacle for bile." This implies certainlj^ that Dr. King had 

 found on examination that the woodland caribou has the gall 

 bladder attached to the liver. This cei-tainly is not so, for the 

 gall bladder is wanting in the woodland caribou as well as in all 

 of the other members of the deer family, a fact long since ob- 

 served and attested by several naturalists and often confirmed 

 by critical examination. Notwithstanding there are many strong 



