Newfoundland Race 45 



they sometimes come considerably farther south in exceptional seasons." 

 After stating that they have been known to wander as far south as Lake 

 Huron, in about lat. 47 , he concludes that the two forms must not unfre- 

 quently meet in the breeding-season, and yet there is no evidence that they 

 ever cross. Assuming its correctness, this statement is very remarkable, 

 bearing in mind that such totally distinct forms as the red deer, wapiti, and 

 Japanese sika will readily interbreed. 



Writing of the woodland reindeer, Mr. Caton observes that it " is 

 fond of arboreous food, grasses, and aquatic plants, but its great resource is 

 lichens. It frequents marshy and swampy grounds more than any other of 

 the deer family, for which it is admirably adapted, and where it is well 

 protected from pursuit. In the winter it resorts to the dense forests on 

 high ground. The breeding-season is in September, and the fawns, which 

 may be one or two in number, are born in the following May. The males 

 shed their antlers in December, although those of the does remain till the 

 spring." Mr. Caton describes the woodland reindeer as an exceedingly 

 wild and restless animal, of a highly wary and suspicious nature, and one 

 much given to constant change of feeding-grounds. An alarm from which 

 a wapiti will be caused to flee but a few miles, will drive a caribou clean 

 out of the country. Hence the animal does not promise well for domestica- 

 tion ; and, as a matter of fact, no thorough attempt seems to have been 

 made to domesticate either of the American races, although tame reindeer 

 from Lapland have been imported into Alaska. In summer these reindeer 

 graze on the rich grass of the valleys, keeping quite clear of the thickets. 



d. Newfoundland Race — Rangifer tarandus terr^-nov^: 



Rangifer terrce-novce, Bangs, Description of Newfoundland Caribou, Boston, 

 1896 ; J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. vol. viii. p. 233 (1896). 



Rangifer tarandus terra-nova, J. A. Allen, MS., see op. cit. p. 235. 



Characters. — Dr. J. A. Allen, by whom this sub-species has been 

 described, gives the following characteristics as distinctive. The bodily 

 size is large, and the antlers are very massive and much palmated, with 

 numerous points on all the branches and especially on the hinder border of 

 the beam. The adult male in the autumn pelage has the following colora- 

 tion : upper-parts grayish brown, becoming lighter on the flanks, and 



