THE HOME OF THE REINDEER. 87 
never to be forgetten. The reindeer, which is the same 
as the Barren Ground caribou, is an animal of excep- 
tional interest. To those whose imaginations dwell on 
visions of St. Nicholas and his coursers it is the ideal 
steed ; while to the hardy native of the frigid zone it 
is a faithful and efficient servant, and is undoubtedly 
the most useful and valuable of the fifty or more 
known varieties of deer. 
In different localities, and at different seasons of the 
year, reindeer vary in appearance; they range in weight 
from one hundred to four hundred pounds. During the 
months of June and July they present their poorest 
appearance, being then lean and scrawny, and their 
half-shed coats ragged and frowsy. By the month of 
August they have discarded their tattered last-winter 
garments, and have assumed sleek glossy brown suin- 
mer coats, which give them a smaller but much more 
comely appearance. From this time, both because of 
increasing flesh and length of hair, they become gradu- 
ally larger and more handsome, until, by the month of 
November, when they don their winter suits of white 
and grey, they are transformed in appearance into the 
noblest animals of the chase. 
Then it is that the enormous antlers of the male deer 
have attained their full, hard growth, and he is thus 
armed for the many battles habitually fought during 
the months of November and December for the posses- 
sion of favored members of the fair sex. During the 
month of January these antlers of the male deer, having 
served their purpose as weapons of warfare, are annually 
cast. Within a few weeks of the falling of the old 
horns, soft new ones begin to form beneath the skin, and 
