71 
the velvet is evidently carried, as a rule, to a later date than in the case of 
the males and between individuals there is apparently much variation in 
this date. Hantzsch (1913, p. 143) mentions observing a female with 
antlers partly in the velvet on April 7, and the calf with her had the spikes 
still in the velvet. 
The winter coat begins shedding about the middle of May, though 
this may not be apparent unless the skins are handled. Even as early as 
May 8, a bull was killed at Nettilling lake, on which the hair shed in hand- 
fuls with very slight manipulation. Shedding is not usually evident on 
live animals until well on in June, when patches of winter hair will be 
missing. A male killed on June 24, though apparently in complete winter 
pelage when observed at a distance, was found to be shedding lavishly, 
with the summer coat a half inch in length underneath. On July 14, a 
buck was seen with the belly, sides, part of neck, and face free of the winter 
hair. A male collected on August 1, still retained much winter hair on 
the back, upper sides, and along the ridge of the neck; the remainder of 
the body was in summer pelage three-quarters of an inch long. A bull 
killed on August 14 still had a sprinkling of long winter hair on the back. 
A male and female taken on August 19 were in full summer pelage and after 
this date none was observed carrying any of the winter coat. 
An average October specimen (No. 5715$) taken at Pangnirtung on 
October 22, 1924, is whitish tinged very pale buff, over the neck from the 
shoulders to the base of the antlers and to the cheeks; the same coloured 
light hairs on the under side extend forward almost to the end of the lower 
lip and backward over the breast, between the forelegs and over the entire 
neutral surface. The back of the forelegs, the inside and back of the hind 
legs to a limited extent, the buttocks, and the under side of the tail are 
also white. The back from the upper point of the shoulders to the base 
of the tail, and the top of the tail, is a warm sepia (Ridgway); in some 
examples the colour is overcast with grey. The sepia colour, but of a 
lighter tinge, extends well down the sides. The dark area is most pro- 
nounced, in the majority of comparable specimens, in a field about a foot 
w T ide and extending from a point between the shoulders, or just back of 
them, to the rump, and in most individuals descending the fronts of the 
fore and hindlegs to, or near, the toes. In most cases, in autumn, the 
sides of the caribou below the dark dorsal area is a pale buff, or tawny 
olive, with in some animals a line of darker hair between this and the 
white hair of the belly, forming a distinct, though not pronounced, line of 
demarcation between the two areas. The face and backs of the ears are 
markedly dark brown to sepia, though on some individuals are lighter and 
greyer. The general impression of the caribou of this season is that of a 
greyish to brownish white animal with a dark back. 
The length of the hair on October specimens averages as follows: 
back, 50-60 mm.; buttocks, 60-70 mm.; belly, 50-60 mm.; throat 90-150 
mm. 
An individual killed in Kingnait pass on March 8, 1925 (No. 5740 c?) 
is not markedly different in coloration from late autumn and early winter 
specimens, though the hair over the sides is longer on an average. Nearly 
all the hair is rubbed off the neck of this specimen, probably from scratch- 
ing there with the hind feet, as a result, possibly, of irritation set up by 
warbles developing under the hide toward spring. This feature is not 
observed in autumn individuals. 
