254 PROF. W. BOYD DAWKINS ON THE 



perfectly novel spectacle. Two large migrating bodies of Reindeer 

 passed us at no great distance. They were descending the hills from 

 the N.W., and crossing the plain on their way to the forests, where 

 they spend the winter. Both bodies of deer extended further than 

 the eye could reach, and formed a compact mass narrowing towards 

 the front. They moved slowly and majestically along, their broad 

 antlers resembling a moving wood of leafless trees. Each body was 

 led by a deer of unusual size, which my guides assured me was always 

 a female. One of the herds was stealthily followed by a wolf, who 

 was apparently watching for an opportunity of seizing any one of the 

 younger and weaker deer which might fall behind the rest ; but on 

 seeing us, he made off in another direction. The other column was 

 followed at some distance by a large black bear, who, however, 

 appeared only intent on digging out a mouse's nest every now and 

 then — so much so that he took no notice of us." 



The Bisons also, on the plains of Colorado, are accompanied in 

 their migration by wolves and bears, which prey upon the stragglers. 



Such a migration as this would satisfactorily account for the pre- 

 sence of vast quantities of the bones of Bisons and Reindeer in so 

 limited an area as twenty-two cubic feet. 



§ 8. Migration of Bison at different season from tluit of Reindeer.- — 

 A careful examination of the young teeth of the Bisons and Rein- 

 deer has further led me to conclude that these two animals migrated 

 through the pass of the Winnetts and over Windy Knoll at different 

 times of the year. The unworn milk- molars and the germ of milk- 

 teeth of the former animal prove that calves not more than three or 

 four months old formed part of the herds, which consequently must 

 have been in that district within three or four months of calving-time, 

 or May — in other words, in the summer and autumn. On the other 

 hand, the milk-molars of the Reindeer were very scarce ; and of them 

 only one (the last in the series) possessed imperfect fangs. It seems, 

 therefore, tolerably certain that they were not in the district in the 

 summer or autumn, their calving-time (according to Sir John 

 Richardson) being May*. We may therefore picture to ourselves 

 the herds of Bison traversing the district in the summer and autumn, 

 and the herds of Reindeer in the winter and early spring, attended 

 by the beasts of prey (bears and wolves), as is now the case in Siberia 

 and in Colorado. 



A parallel case to this of Windy Knoll is afforded by the accumu- 

 lation of bones of Reindeer, Bison, Hare, Bear, and Wolf which was 

 discovered by Captain Luard, R.E., in 1866, in digging the founda- 

 tion of a cavalry-barracks at Windsor. I found that the first two 

 of these animals were by far the most abundant. The remains in 

 question had most probably been derived from a ford higher up the 

 then stream of the Thames, which offered passage to migratory 

 bodies for many years f . 



§ 9. The Deposit of Pleistocene Age. — It will have been remarked 

 that no extinet animals have been found in this deposit. Is it, then, 



* ' Fauna Boreali-Americana,' vol. i. p. 242. 



t See ' Popular Science Keview,' January 1868, p. 37- 



