THE ANTLERS. 205 
as those of the former, so that the smaller animal has antlers 
which are four times as large in proportion to the size of the 
animal as the former. As the antlers of the Woodland Caribou 
are as large in proportion to his size as those of any of the other 
species, we see that those grown on the Barren-ground Caribou 
are so excessive in growth as to excite our wonder. It creates 
the impression that he must be fairly laden down with their 
weight, and that the drain upon the system to supply this enor- 
mous growth of bone in a few months, must enfeeble the animal, 
for the time at least. . This is not so, however, more than with 
the other species. All the other species which I have personally 
observed, while the antler is growing, seem to be more or less 
enfeebled and in poor condition, and most of all is this the case 
with the Virginia deer. During the same period the females are 
suckling their young, which would seem to be a sufficient ex- 
planation why they are poor also; but my observations teach me 
that the barren does maintain a better condition of flesh during 
the summer than the others, though these also become quite poor 
in early summer. 
How far the Barren-ground Caribou are an exception to this 
rule, Iam not prepared to say. ‘The reindeer,” says Captain 
Lyon, “ visits the polar regions at the latter end of May, or early 
part of June, and remains until late in September. On his arrival 
he is thin and his flesh is tasteless, but the short summer is suffi- 
cient to fatten him to two or three inches on the haunches.” 
Richardson (p. 248) says: ‘* When in condition there is a layer 
of fat deposited on the back or rump of the males to the depth of 
‘two or three inches or more immediately under the skin, which is 
termed depouillé by the Canadian voyagers ; and as an article of 
Indian trade it is often of more value than all the remainder of 
the careass. The depouillé is thickest at the commencement of 
the rutting season; it then becomes of a red color, acquires a high 
flavor, and soon after disappears.” 
One not familiar with the habit of the deer, would be likely to 
understand Captain Lyon’s remark as stating that the animal 
had been increasing in flesh during the whole time his antlers 
had been growing. This would be a great mistake. The fact 
that the deer are in the finest condition at the beginning of the 
rut, which is shortly after the velvet is rubbed off the antlers, 
is not confined to the Barren-ground Caribou, but applies to all 
of the family. It does not require the whole of even the shortest 
summer for any deer to improve from a lean condition to that of 
