COAT AND COLOR. 123 
and replaced twice in each year, —a provision peculiar to the deer 
family in a state of nature, and almost as extraordinary as the 
deciduous character of their antlers. These coats are well 
adapted to the comfort of the animals during the different sea- 
sons when they prevail. They widely differ, both in structure 
and quantity. So soon as warm weather is established in the 
spring, as on most other quadrupeds, the heavy winter coat, by 
which they have been protected from the rigors of the season, 
becomes loosened and is thrown off; and is replaced by another 
coat of hairs of an entirely different texture. The new hairs 
spring from the same roots which nourished the old ones. As the 
new hairs shoot out they gradually loosen the old’ ones, which 
finally drop off. With some species, the process is quite gradual, 
and occupies a considerable time While with others, all seem to 
be loosened nearly at the same time. This is particularly so 
with our Elk (Wapiti), when the winter is being replaced by the 
summer pelage, while the change from the summer to the winter 
coat is very gradual. The winter coat is all detached so nearly 
together, that if the hairs were dropped off so soon as they are 
loosened, the animal would for a time appear almost naked, so 
short would be the new coat. But the inner coat of fur has 
during the winter become felted together, embracing and confin- 
ing the long coarse hairs, so that they cover the animal as with a 
blanket, after a considerable portion have become loosened, thus 
allowing the young hairs to attain some length before their pred- 
ecessors are gone. Indeed, this old coat does not in fact drop 
off, as in ordinary cases, but it is torn away in large patches, by 
contact with the shrubbery. There weuld be no difficulty in 
gathering many baskets full of this coat from the bushes in my 
grounds in the month of June. The large proportion of fur in 
this pelage would render it quite practicable to convert it into 
yarn and cloth, or into felted goods. When the old coat is gone 
the new one is very short afl fine, and fairly glistens in the 
bright sunshine. 
How this process progresses with the moose and the caribou, I 
am not fully informed, only that it occurs at the same time in the 
spring, when other quadrupeds discard their winter garb. From 
the fact that this occurs at a time when the deer are not in sea- 
son for the hunter, but few observations have been made of them 
at this time. Careful observations can only be made when they 
are in semi-domestication or in confinement, where they ‘can 
be studied the year round. 
