ii8 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



hearth-rug is so buoyant, that it will sustain the weight of a full- 

 grown man. It has been suggested, therefore, that the crews of 

 life-boats should always be dressed in suits made of this hair when 

 they venture upon their perilous journeys. 



So valuable, indeed, is this interesting animal, that among the 

 Lapps a man's riches are always estimated by the number of 

 reindeer which he possesses. If he owns a thousand or more, he 

 is considered rich. If his herd numbers only a few hundreds, he 

 is still regarded as being in easy circumstances. But if his deer 

 are less than fifty in number, then he is a poor man, and as a rule 

 enters the service of one richer than he, with whose herds he 

 combines his own. 



In a state of freedom the reindeer always leaves its native 

 forests at the beginning of summer, and travels northwards to a 

 colder region. This it does principally perhaps to escape the flies 

 and other insects which abound in the forest land. 



One of its principal tormentors is a kind of gad-fly, which lays 

 a number of eggs in its skin. Out of these soon hatch small white 

 grubs, which burrow into the flesh of the deer and cause large and 

 painful swellings, similar to those which we ma\' sometimes see upon 

 the back of a bullock or cow. The reindeer dreads this insect 

 greatly, and even the humming sound which it makes as it flies is 

 sufficient to drive a herd of these animals almost wild with terror. 



All through the summer, therefore, the reindeer lives in the 

 hills, returning in the autumn. Even when placed under domestica- 

 tion the animal is still obliged to make this annual journey, and 

 every year, quite early in the summer, vast herds of reindeer may 

 be seen travelling northwards, not to return until the hot weather 

 has come to an end. 



The principal food of the reindeer consists of a kind of lichen, 

 which grows upon the ground in the large otherwise barren districts 

 which these anima.s inhabit. In the winter, of course, their food is 

 often covered by three or four feet of snow; but, guided by instinct, 

 the deer scrape this away with their horns and hoofs, and thus con- 

 trive to satisfy their hunger. Sometimes, however, the surface of 

 the snow is frozen into a solid sheet of ice, and then many of the 

 animals perish from starvation. 



