40 Reindeer 



of the other Old World races may be included, as they appear to be very 

 similar. In Norway, wild reindeer inhabit the high fjelds, where almost 

 the only other inhabitants are the ptarmigan and the black and yellow 

 lemming. These high plateaus contain numerous hollows in which snow 

 remains throughout the summer, and on these snow-beds the reindeer are 

 fond of lying, so that in stalking a telescope is frequently of little use in 

 J. 1 -covering the whereabouts of a herd. Although essentially gregarious 

 animals, it appears from the account given by Mr. E. N. Buxton 1 that 

 during the summer the herds on the high fjelds of Norway comprise nearly 

 95 per cent of females, and it is suggested that this may be due 

 to the males having thicker hides, and thus being less tormented by 

 mosquitoes, so that they are able to remain in the valleys below, where 

 the food is richer. The same writer was also told that the hinds carry 

 their antlers for some months after those of the bucks are shed, and during 

 this time are able to keep their lords and masters in complete subjection. 

 At the present day the numbers of the wild Norwegian reindeer are 

 greatly reduced. But it appears from Mr. J. Lloyd's Scandinavian 

 Adventures that in the early part of the century these animals were as 

 abundant as blesbok in Africa. In that work it is stated that one day in 

 June 1826 the fjeld, for a breadth of seven miles, was covered with reindeer 

 as thickly as an English field by sheep when feeding ; the herd extending 

 so far that the eye could not embrace the whole at once. Subsequently 

 this immense herd broke up into three divisions. 



In Spitzbergen, according to the narrative of Baron Nordenskiold, the 

 wild reindeer resort in summer to the grassy plains in the valleys free from 

 ice; late in the autumn they are reported to descend to the coast, where 

 they pick up a subsistence on the sea-weed thrown by the waves on the 

 beach, but in winter they once more return to the inland heights, where, in 

 spite of the intense cold, they thrive well on the reindeer-moss, or lichen, 

 growing beneath the snow. Indeed, when they return to the coast in 

 spring they are in excellent condition, but shortly afterwards, when the 

 melting snow cakes into ice on the mountain-sides, they are much put to 

 it to find food, and consequently become very thin. With the return of 

 summer they speedily recover, and by the end of autumn are quite fat. Even 

 in such a remote district as Spitzbergen the numbers of these animals have 



1 



1 Short Stalks, p. 330 (1892). 



