134 



OKDEES OF MAMMALS— HOOFED ANIMALS 



gray, which color also suffuses the neck, head 

 and hind-(iuarters. In October the new coat is 

 of a dark color known as seal brown, quite differ- 

 ent from the same pelage in spring. 



Originally the Newfoundland Caribou were 

 referred to the species named above, but in 1S96 

 they were given rank as an independent species 

 (R. terraenovae) chiefly on account of their very 

 light color. They are the whitest of all caribou. 



In 1899, Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton described 



ANTLERS OP KENAI CARIBOU. 



From photograph of specimen t;iken on the Kcnai 

 Peninsula in 190I-), by JlAitiiY E. Lee. 



the Black-Faced Caribou of southeastern 

 British Columbia (Revelstoke) as Raiiijija- mon- 

 ianus, or Mountain Caribou. The new Sep- 

 tember coat is almost black. The antlers are 

 short, but throw off a surprising array of long 

 tines. 



In 1902 the large, dark-colored caribou of the 

 Cassiar Mountains, in northern British Columbia, 

 was described by Dr. J. A. Allen as Osborn's 

 Caribou [Rungifer osbunii), the name bestowed 

 being in honor of Professor Henry Fairfield 



Osborn, the distinguished zoologist of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History. This species 

 attains a shoulder height of 55 inches, and is said 

 to be the largest of all caribou. In September 

 its coat is so brown the animal has been described 

 as a brown caribou. 



The Kenai Caribou of the Kenai Peninsula — 

 but, in 1903 almost extinct in that locality — 

 was described in 1901 as a distinct species, and 

 christened Rangifer sionei. In September, 1903, 

 the Secretary of Agriculture issued an order pro- 

 hibiting for five years the killing of caribou on 

 the Kenai and Alaska Peninsulas. 



Regarding the distribution and habits of cari- 

 bou in the Canadian Northwest, !Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, 

 who, while a member of the Canadian Geological 

 Survey, travelled over a greater area of the range 

 of that animal than any other observer known to 

 me, has kindly furnished the very interesting 

 facts quoted below. His letter is dated at Daw- 

 son City, September 10, 1903. 



" Regarding the portions of the districts of Al- 

 berta, Athabasca and Saskatchewan spoken of 

 by you, I am reasonably certain that the Wood- 

 land Caribou may be found in all the thickly 

 wooded tracts. This deer is known to the Cree 

 Indians of that country as the ' Muskeg- Atik,' 

 or Swamp Deer, in recognition of the fact that it 

 lives in the swamps and coniferous forests, and 

 not on the plains, or on the country studded 

 with groves of poplar. Now, much of Alberta, 

 and a great part of Saskatchewan, is dry, open 

 country, and into such country caribou rarely 

 wander. 



"This dry, 'bluffy' country extends north- 

 westward through the western part of .Athabasca, 

 but throughout all the thickly wooded parts of 

 Athabasca I have no hesitation in saying that 

 Woodland Caribou are not uncommon. They 

 certainly occur along the Churchill River, and 

 I think that their tracks were common along the 

 banks of the Athabasca River, though I cannot 

 definitely remember this, and I have not my 

 note-ljooks here to help me. 



" The Indians told me that the Woodland Cari- 

 bou of the Churchill River and vicinity move 

 northward, and the Barren-Ground Caribou 

 southward in autumn, and that both winter in 

 the same region, in a country where the trees are 

 festooned by a long, black, hair-like lichen {Alec- 

 toria juhata?). However, I believe that the 



