The Caribou 281 



Rangifer arcticus and Rangifer groenlandicus. 

 These races are lighter in color than the Wood- 

 land caribou and rarely assume the dark-blue 

 coat worn by the latter in the autumn before the 

 white of winter appears. But this question of 

 color cannot be accepted in any way as a main 

 factor for determining the specific or even racial 

 value of these animals, for it not infrequently hap- 

 pens that those caribou that have been killed in 

 the same locality and at the same season present 

 in their different coats all shades from an almost 

 soiled white to a mouse color. As a rule, I think 

 it may be said that the Woodland animal is usually 

 darker than his relative of the plains, but it would 

 be difficult to distinguish one Woodland caribou 

 from another, taken at .the same season, by color 

 alone, no matter from what part of North America 

 they come. The two animals above mentioned 

 are smaller than the Woodland caribou, and it 

 is much easier to distinguish these from their 

 southern relatives than it is to find characters to 

 separate them from each other. Both of the 

 Arctic forms have slender antlers with few points, 

 and there does not seem to be much difference 

 in the color of their coats; and while these 

 animals from the different localities have been 

 recognized as distinct for a long period, yet it 

 can hardly be said that any character has been 

 described by which the deer of the mainland 



