THE REINDEER. 



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By careful attention, however, and good training, the Elk can be used as a beast of car- 

 riage or burden, and from its great size and power is extremely valuable in that capacity. 



Two varieties of Reindeek inhabit the earth ; the one, called the Reindeer, being placed 

 upon the northern portions of Europe and Asia, and the other, termed the Caribou, being 

 restricted to North America. We will first describe the European variety. 



This animal is very variable in dimensions ; the color is also variable, according to the 

 season of year. In winter the fur is long, and of a grayish-brown tint, with the exception of 



REINDEER.— Rangifer tarandus. 



the neck, hinder quarters, abdomen, and end of nose, which are white. In the summer, the 

 gray -brown hair darkens into a sooty brown, and the white portions become gray. 



In its wild state the Reindeer is a migratory animal, making anniial journeys from the 

 woods to the hills, and back again, according to the season. Their chief object in leaving the 

 forests in the summer months appears to be their hope of escaping the continual attacks of 

 mosqiiitoes and other insect pests that are found in such profusion about forest land. The 

 principal plague of the Reindeer is one of the gad-flies, peculiar to the species, which deposits 

 its eggs in the animal's hide, and subjects it to great pain and continual harassment. Even in 

 the domesticated state the Reindeer is obliged to continue its migrations, so that the owners 

 of the tame herds are perforce obliged to become partakers in the annual pilgrimages, and to 

 accompany their charge to the appropriate localities. 



The nature of the persecutions to' which the Reindeer is continually subjected is well told 

 by a correspondent to the Field newspaper : ' ' The herd looked very miserable, as I thought ; 

 there is nothing of the antlered monarch about the Reindeer, but a careworn, nervous expres- 

 sion, which I do not wonder at, considering how they are bullied. There are creatures which 



