104 HOOFED ANIMALS 
lives by a hasty retreat to the woods. This is a common 
danger in the autumn, as the Caribou, coming in from the 
Barren Grounds, join together in one vast herd, and do not 
scatter much till they reach the thick timber. 
“The Caribou, as is usually the case when they are in 
large numbers, were very tame, and on several occasions I 
found myself right in the middle of a band, with a splendid 
chance to pick out any that seemed in good condition. .. . 
Notwithstanding all the tall stories that are told of their 
numbers [the buffaloes], I cannot believe that the herds on 
the prairie ever surpassed in size La foule of the Caribou.” 
S1zE AND ANTLERS.—At present the size of the Barren 
Ground Caribou appears to be a matter of opinion rather 
than of observation and record. In the hope that some one 
will come forward and disprove it, I venture to make the 
assertion that no one ever has weighed a whole, full-grown 
male specimen. We have a few figures of “dressed” weight, 
and various “abouts,” but really useful facts are lacking. It 
is currently believed that the Barren Ground Caribou of 
northern Canada is about one-third lighter than the Woodland 
species of Ontario and Quebec. If this be true, and we may 
judge by our own Woodland bull, which unquestionably was 
a large one (48 inches high; weight, 261 pounds), then the 
male Barren Ground animal may be set down as weighing 
174 pounds. For the Greenland Caribou and Grant’s Caribou, 
this weight surely is too low; for the skulls and skins of both 
these species indicate a greater weight. On the Alaskan Pen- 
insula Mr. C. H. Townsend weighed a dressed specimen 
of Rangifer grantt and estimated very carefully the weight 
