THE REINDEER 119 



Now let us examine three important parts of the bodily- 

 structure of the reindeer; namely, its horns, its coat, and its feet. 



You will probably recollect that, in speaking of the antelopes, 

 I said that those animals are distinguished by possessing hollow 

 horns set upon a bony core, which are retained throughout life, 

 while the horns of deer are solid, and are cast off and renewed every 

 year. We will now see how the horns of these latter animals are 

 produced. 



If we could see a reindeer towards the end of the winter, we 

 should find him a very timid animal, hiding away in the deepest 

 recesses of the forest. A few weeks ago he was bold and quarrel- 

 some, quite ready to fight with others of his own kind, and, indeed, 

 to encounter almost any foe. Now, however, his courage and 

 pugnacity have quite deserted him. For his large, spreading horns 

 have fallen off, and he is quite conscious that he has lost his natural 

 weapons, and must live in retirement until they have been renewed. 



At this time, if we could examine his head, we should find, just 

 where the antlers had been, two small bony prominences, covered 

 with a soft, velvety skin. If we placed our hand upon these we 

 should find them quite hot to the touch. These are the new horns, 

 which are quite small and soft as yet, and the warm blood which is 

 coursing so rapidly through them is constantly depositing small 

 particles of bony matter, and so causing them gradually to increase 

 in size. 



In a week's time the horns have grown considerably, and are 

 beginning to throw out a number of "tines" or branches. A week 

 later still they have grown a great deal more; and before very long 

 they have attained to their full size, and are rather larger than 

 those of the previous year. The age of a male deer, indeed, may 

 always be calculated from the number of tines upon his antlers. 



When the horns have quite completed their growth, the velvety 

 skin which clothes them, and through which the blood-vessels 

 passed, now loses its softness, and becomes hard and dry; and the 

 deer, by constantly rubbing his newly-grown ornaments against the 

 branches of trees, soon scrapes it all away. Thus at last the horns 

 assume the appearance in which they are so familiar to us. 



We may imagine that the spreading antlers of a deer must 



