24 HARDY ON PROVINCIAL ACCLIMATIZATION. 



We find accordingly, that our largest ruminant, the moose-deer, 

 is in the strictest sense of the word a wood-eater; whilst our other 

 animal representing this class, the American reindeer, or carriboo, 

 is found in those portions of the Province where large and seldom 

 disturbed plains and bogs afford him his favorite moss, the lichen 

 (j-ange ferinus). As amongst the larger animals, ruminants alone 

 offer a selection for introduction into a forest country with the 

 physical attributes of Nova Scotia, we may ask if there is any other 

 animal of the deer tribe which might be successfully acclimatized 

 here. The answer comes through careful consideration of the 

 fauna and flora of other regions compared with our own. The 

 field naturally presenting itself for this research lies in the forest 

 districts of America further west, and in northern Europe, which, 

 under similar climatic influences, presents a strong analogy to this 

 portion of the globe, especially on its western seaboard ; the forest 

 trees and slii'ubs, the larger animals, the birds and the fish of 

 Norway and Sweden, are almost reproduced in British North 

 America ; indeed, distinction of species in many cases is far from 

 established. 



*The red deer then, of Maine and the Canadas, and more 

 recently of New Brunswick, by spontaneous acclimatization, or 

 perhaps rather through the instrumentality of the wolf, appears to 

 be perfectly adapted for an existence in the Nova Scotian woods — a 

 graceful species, but little inferior to the red deer of Europe, afford- 

 ing the excellent venison with which the New York and Boston 

 markets are so well supplied. The climate of Nova Scoti^, allow- 

 ing so little snow to accumulate in the woods until the close of the 

 winter, would prove a great safeguard against the wholesale des- 

 truction with which it meets in Maine and New Brunswick, \^^here 

 it is continually in a most helpless condition from the depth of snow 

 throughout the winter. Indeed, it is already with us, for a small 

 herd of healthy animals may now be seen at Mr. Downs' gardens, 

 to whom the country is already indebted for many an unassisted 

 attempt at real practical acclimatization. 



The only other ruminant on the list of this order indigenous to 

 climates similar to our own, is the hardy little roe-deer or roe-buck, 

 common in the beech woods of northern Europe. I am confident 



* Ccrvus Viry;inianus. 



