360 Proceedings of the 



Cenomyces, which clothe the Barren Grounds like a carpet, 

 they make short excursions from the woods, but return to them 

 when the weather is frosty. In May the females proceed to 

 the sea-coast, and towards the end of June the males are in 

 full march in the same direction. At that period the power 

 of the sun has dried up the lichens on the Barren Grounds, and 

 the caribou frequent the moist pastures which cover the bottoms 

 of the narrow valleys on the coasts and islands of the Arctic 

 Sea, where they graze on the sprouting carices and on the 

 withered grass or hay of the preceding year, which is at that 

 period still standing and retaining part of its sap. Their 

 spring journey is performed partly on the snow, and partly, 

 after the snow has disappeared, on the ice covering the rivers 

 and lakes, which have in general a northerly direction. Soon 

 after their arrival on the coast the females drop their young ; 

 they commence their return to the south in September, and 

 reach the vicinity of the woods towards the end of October, 

 where they are joined by the males. This journey takes place 

 after the snow has fallen, and they scrape it away with their 

 feet to procure the lichens, which are then tender and pulpy, 

 being preserved moist and unfrozen by the heat still remain- 

 ing in the earth." " The lichens on which the caribou princi- 

 pally feed whilst on the Barren Grounds, are the Cornicularia 

 tristis, diver gens t and ochroleuca, the Cetraria nivalis, cucul- 

 lata, and islandica, and the Cenomyce rangiferina"* — all 

 low ground-growing species. The statements, however, of 

 the latest observer on the subject, Dr Armstrongf, are some- 

 what different, both as regards the shedding of the horns 

 and the migration of the deer. As to the first, he says, 

 " The calving season, as far as my observation enables me 

 to judge, is in June, prior to, and coeval with which the 

 bucks shed their antlers, which appear to be again entirely 

 reproduced in the latter end of August and early in Septem- 

 ber;" and elsewhere he especially notices the rapidity of growth 

 of the new horns. As regards the second part, he makes the 

 following remarks ; and observations to the same effect occur 

 in "Osborn's Voyage of the Investigator :" — "It has hither- 



* Loc. cit., p. 243. 



t Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the North-west Passage, 1857. 



