THE ANTLERS. 205 



as those of the formei-, so that the smaller animal has antlers 

 which are four times as large in proportion to the size of the 

 animal as the former. As the antlers of the Woodland Caribou 

 are as large in proportion to his size as those of any of the other 

 species, we see that those grown on the Barren-ground Caribou 

 are so excessive in growth as to excite our wonder. It creates 

 the impression that he must be fairly laden down with their 

 weight, and that the drain upon the system to supply this enor- 

 mous growth of bone in a few months, must enfeeble the animal, 

 for the time at least. This is not so, however, more than with 

 the other species. All the other species which I have personally 

 observed, while the antler is growing, seem to be more or less 

 enfeebled and in poor condition, and most of all is this the case 

 with the Virginia deer. During the same period the females are 

 suckling their young, which would seem to be a sufficient ex- 

 planation why they are poor also ; but my observations teach me 

 that the barren does maintain a better condition of flesh during 

 the summer than the others, though these also become quite poor 

 in early summer. 



How far the Barren-ground Cai'ibou are an exception to this 

 rule, I am not prepared to say. " The reindeer, " says Captain 

 Lyon, " visits the polar regions at the latter end of May, or early 

 part of June, and remains until late in September. On his arrival 

 he is thin and his flesh is tasteless, but the short summer is suffi- 

 cient to fatten him to two or three inches on the haunches." 

 Richardson (p. 243) says : " When in condition there is a layer 

 of fat deposited on the back or rump of the males to the depth of 

 two or three inches or more immediately under the skin, which is 

 termed depouille by the Canadian voyagers ; and as an article of 

 Indian trade it is often of more value than all the remainder of 

 the carcass. The depouille is thickest at the commencement of 

 the rutting season : it then becomes of a red color, acquires a high 

 flavor, and soon after disappears." 



One not familiar with the habit of the deer, would be likely to 

 understand Captain Lyon's remark as stating that the animal 

 had been increasing in flesh during the whole time his antlers 

 had been growing. This would be a great mistake. The fact 

 that the deer are in the finest condition at the beginning of the 

 rut, which is shortly after the velvet is rubbed off the antlers, 

 is not confined to the Barren-ground Caribou, but applies to all 

 of the family. It does not require the whole of even the shortest 

 summer for any deer to improve from a lean condition to that of 



