398 MICHIGAN SURVEY, 1908. 



Barren Ground, B. a/ivtitus (Rich), forms. In the vicinity of York 

 Factory on the west coast of Hudson Bay, the Woodland Caribou 

 (Preble, '02, p. 41) migrates to the coast in the spring and returns in- 

 land about the middle of October and during November. Tn addition 

 to this summer seaward migration of these coastal ones, there is also 

 a summer southward movement to the interior (Georgeson, '04, p. 378). 

 At least some of the more northern Barren Ground Caribou during the 

 summer also migrate to the coast near Hudson Bay as well as near 

 the mouth of the Mackenzie River (MacFarlane, '05, p. 681), and inland, 

 at Reindeer Lake, Keewatin (MacFarlane, '05, p. 684), there is a distinct 

 northward spring migration during the last of April and May, and a 

 return movement during late October, November and December. The 

 breeding season is during September and October, and as this period is 

 much the same for the two forms, the northward migration of the Barren 

 Ground Caribou and the southward migration of the Woodland Caribou, 

 has a distinct tendency to isolate these two types during their early 

 fall breeding season ; a result which in time would certainly influence 

 their specific differentiation. Similar relations in the past may be one 

 of the causes for the differences which are today recognized. MacFar- 

 lane ('05, p. 680) states that the two forms do not associate. The 

 seaward migration is probably limited to those in the vicinity of the 

 coast and does not influence the inland forms to a marked degree. These 

 seasonal migrations are very suggestive of the influence which climate, 

 and, in part, the resultant habits, may have upon habit and specific 

 differentiation. 



Geographic Range. — The Woodland Caribou ranges northward, in for- 

 ested regions, from Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Maine, (formerly north- 

 ern New Hampshire and Vermont), on the east, westward through 

 Quebec and Ontario along the north shore of Lake Superior, where 

 Miller reports it very abundant, (Isle Royale) Michigan; northern 

 Minnesota; Manitoba; Saskatchewan (Cumberland Hoiise) to Atha- 

 basca, and Great Slave Lake, Mackenzie (cf. Grant, '02, p. 18). 



Aside from the Isle Royale records, the only other record of the 

 occurrence of Caribou in Michigan is that given in Caton ('77, p. 87) 

 whose statement is as follows : "If it was ever abundant south of Lake 

 Superior, where it was found when the copper and iron mines first in- 

 vited extensive settlements there, the fact is not well attested, and I 

 cannot learn that any have been met with south of that Lake within 

 the last twenty years or more." 



Fossil reindeer remains have been found in a number of Pleistocene 

 deposits, far to the south of their present range (cf. Hay, '02, p. 686") 

 and clearly show that they formerly occurred in New York, New Jereey, 

 Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Iowa. The extreme southern localities may 

 be due to southern winter migrants. It is not improbable that among 

 these fossil remains, several forms occur, as even today the ranges of the 

 various forms are not sliarply defined, and as our knowledge of the recent 

 species has been greatly extended in recent years, these fossil remains 

 are in need of critical study. Fossil Caribou are of s])ecial interest on 

 account of their bearing upon the Glacial and post-Glacial dispersal of 

 these animals. These facts clearly suggest an extensive migration from 

 the vicinity of the glacial border northward into the barren grounds. 



