82 Field and Forest Rambles. 



the sharp edge of the ice wounds the fetlock. Hence the 

 latter repairs to situations where food can be procured 

 without much travelling ; whilst the light concave and expan- 

 sive hoof of the reindeer, with its rounded points and sharp 

 edges, enable it to wander about with perfect ease on hard and 

 frozen surfaces ; in fact it would be difficult to cite a better 

 example of the adaptation of a member to meet a difficulty 

 than is displayed in the construction of the foot of the caribou, 

 nor of what might be styled a bad design in the solid, heavy, 

 and sharp-pointed hoof of the moose. 



These differences account therefore for the opposite habits 

 of the two in winter ; inasmuch as the elk seeks situations 

 where there is abundance of its favourite shrubs, to wit, striped 

 maple and moose wood,* where the herd remains until they 

 have cropped every bush, or, skirting the barren, nibbles the 

 young poplars, which also form its chief subsistence at this 

 season. Thus whilst the moose affects dense forests and feeds 

 on bark and underwood, the reindeer delights in the more open 

 parts, wandering from place to place, and browsing on grass, 

 moss, or lichen,f more especially the long trailing moss 

 familiarly known as the "old man's beard," which hangs in 

 graceful tresses from trees. It subsists in summer on various 

 sorts of crow and whortle berries, birch foliage, etc., and is also 

 partial to seaweed, and in former times was wont to repair 

 to the seaboard districts to obtain it, just as the northern form 

 does now in Greenland. 



With reference to the dimensions of certain deer common 

 to North America, and of wide distribution, it has been 



* Acer Pennsylva?iicum and Dircapalustris. 



t The reindeer moss or lichen (Cladonice), said to be the almost sole 

 subsistence of the Lapland variety, would seem to be scarce nowadays ; 

 indeed, we are told there is not even enough to afford occasional food. 

 These differences in the nature of the animal's subsistence, coupled with 

 climate and physical condition, may have influenced the different varieties 

 of reindeer. With reference to the absence of cladonice in Greenland, see 

 Brown's " Notes on the Mammals of Greenland," Field, 1868. 



