THE ASIATIC REINDEER AND ELK 
These reindeer emigrate in enormous herds similar to the Arctic caribou 
of the Canadian barren-lands. From the N. Kolimsk River to the Chukchi 
Peninsula are enormous herds of reindeer which seem to be quite distinct 
from the great forest race inhabiting Kamchatka and Okhotsk. Travellers 
have frequently informed me of the presence of reindeer in the high moun- 
tains of the Tian Shan, but we have no proofs that this is the case, although 
horns are to be seen in such places as Kuldja. 
I possess skulls and horns of most of the following local races of Asiatic 
reindeer, and they exhibit characters which show them to belong to the 
following sub -specific races, several of which are new. 
ASIATIC REINDEER 
T. r. lenensis (sub-spec. nov.). — A small reindeer, the neck and under- 
parts very white (not grey, as so generally the case in the European typical 
race). The dark flank stripe absent or faintly seen in summer pelage. 
Pure white examples very common. Horns similar to T. r. arcticus , 
but somewhat shorter. A pure white example in the collection of Mr J. 
Talbot Clifton seems to be a typical specimen. 
Habitat: the Taimur Peninsula, the Lena delta, south to the timber 
and east probably as far as the Kolimsk. 
Vast herds of these reindeer swim to the islands of the Lena delta in 
early summer to escape the flies and mosquitoes of the mainland and then 
return south before the ice forms to spend the winter on the edge of the 
forest belt. The natives meet them on their autumnal migration and kill 
very large numbers by hiding behind screens in a fashion similarly 
employed by the Esquimaux and Yellow Knife Indians of Northern 
Canada. 
The Yakuts of the Lena delta call the reindeer olane and utilize 
them for sledge work. George Melville in his interesting work, “ In the 
Lena Delta” (pp. 131-2) thus describes the spring or northward trek 
of these reindeer and the methods the natives employ to kill them. 
He says: 
“ The natives here, and, indeed, all along the coast of Siberia, 
live upon the game peculiar to each season. In the springtime they 
lie in their canoes, ambushed under the high river bank, and await 
the coming of the reindeer, which have favourite crossing -places on 
their annual migrations to the north. The herd marches across the 
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