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CARIBOU OR AMERICAN REINDEER, 
When overtaken by dogs in chase, the Caribou stand at bay and show 
■fight, and when thus brought to a stand will not pay much attention to the 
hunter, so that he can approach and shoot them with ease. 
During our expeditions in Labrador we saw many trails of Reindeer 
through the deep and stiff moss ; they are about as broad as a cowpath, 
and many times the fatigues of a long day’s hunt over the sterile wilds of 
that country were lightened by following in these tracks or paths, instead 
of walking on the yielding moss. 
We did not see any of these animals ourselves, but bought one from 
the Indians and enjoyed it very much, as we had had no fresh meat for 
nearly three months, except fishy ducks, a few curlews, and some willow- 
grouse. 
We were informed that the Caribou are sometimes abundant on the 
island of Newfoundland, to which they cross on the ice from the mainland, 
and as the fishermen and French trappers at St. George’s Bay told us, 
sometimes the herds stay so late in the spring that by the occasional early 
breaking up of the ice, they are prevented from leaving the island. 
The horns of the Caribou run into various shapes, and are more or less 
palmated. The female of this species has also horns, which are not dropped 
until near the month of May. No two individuals of this species have the 
horns alike, nor do the horns of any grow into the same number of prongs, 
or resemble those of the last season. Notwithstanding this endless variety, 
there is always a specific character in the horns of this species (as well as 
in all our other deer), which will enable the close observer at once to 
recognise them. 
“ In the month of July,” says Dr. Richakdson, “ the Caribou sheds its 
winter covering, and acquires a short, smooth coat of hair, of a colour 
composed of clove brown, mingled with deep reddish and yellowish-browns, 
the under surface of the neck, the belly, and the inner sides of the extremi- 
ties, remaining white in all seasons. The hair at first is fine and flexible, 
but as it lengthens it increases gradually in diameter at its roots, becoming 
at the same time white, soft, compressible, and brittle, like the hair of the 
moose deer. In the course of the winter the thickness of the hairs at their 
roots becomes so great that they are exceedingly close, and no longer lie 
down smoothly, but stand erect, and they are then so soft and tender below, 
that the flexible coloured points are easily rubbed off, and the fur appears 
white, especially on the flanks. This occurs in a smaller degree on the 
back ; and on the under parts, the hair, although it acquires length, remains 
more flexible and slender at its roots, and is consequently not so subject to 
break. Towards the spring, when the Deer are tormented by the larvae of 
the gad-fly making their way through the skin, they rub themselves against 
