34 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



CHAPTER II. 



ARCTIC LAND QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS. 



The Reindeer.— Structure of its Foot. — Clattering Noise when walking.— Antlers.— Extraordinary 

 olfactory Powers. — The Icelandic Moss. — Present and Former Range of the Reindeer. — Its invalu- 

 able Qualities as an Arctic domestic Animal. — Revolts against Oppression. — Enemies of the Rein- 

 deer.— The Wolf.— The Glutton or Wolverine.— Gad-tlies.— The Elk or Moose-deer.— The Musk- 

 ox. — The Wild Sheep of the Rocky Mountains. — The Siberian Argali. — The Arctic Fox, — Its Bur- 

 rows. — The Lemmings.— Their Migrations and Enemies. — Arctic Anatidae. — The Snow-bunting. — 

 The Lapland Bunting. — The Sea-eagle. — Drowned by a Dolphin. 



rF^HE reindeer may well be called the camel of the northern wastes, for it is 



a no less valuable companion to the Laplander or to the Samojede than the 

 " ship of the desert " to the wandering Bedouin. It is the only member of the 

 numerous deer family that has been domesticated by man ; but though un- 

 doubtedly the most useful, it is by no means the most comely of its race. Its 

 clear, dark eye has, indeed, a beautiful expression, but it has neither the noble 

 proportions of the stag nor the grace of the roebuck, and its thick square-form- 

 ed body is far from being a model of elegance. Its legs are short and thick, 

 its feet broad, but extremely well adapted for walking over the snow or on a 

 swampy ground. The front hoofs, which are capable of great lateral expansion, 

 curve upward, while the two secondary ones behind (which are but slightly 

 developed in the fallow deer and other members of the family) are considera- 

 bly prolonged : a structure which, by giving the animal a broader base to stand 

 upon, prevents it from sinking too deeply into the snow or the morass. Had 

 the foot of the reindeer been formed like that of our stag, it would have been 

 as unable to drag the Laplander's sledge with such velocity over the yielding 

 snow-fields as the camel would be to perform his long marches through the 

 desert without the broad elastic sole-pad on which he firmly paces the unsta- 

 ble sands. 



The short legs and broad feet of the reindeer likewise enable it to swim with 

 greater ease — a power of no small importance in countries abounding in rivers 

 and lakes, and where the scarcity of food renders perpetual migrations necessa- 

 ry. When the reindeer walks or merely moves, a remarkable clattering sound 

 is heard to some distance, about the cause of which naturalists and travellers 

 by no means agree. Most probably it results from the great length of the two 

 digits of the cloven hoof, which when the animal sets its foot upon the ground 

 separate widely, and when it again raises its hoof suddenly clap against each 

 other. 



A long mane of a dirty white color hangs from the neck of the reindeer. In 

 summer the body is brown above and white beneath ; in winter, long-haired 

 and white. Its antlers are very different from those of the stag, having broad 

 palmated summits, and branching back to the length of three or four feet. 



