2 Q 3 
the food of the reindeer grows in abundance 
in Labrador, and since the recent introduction 
of the reindeer into Alaska has proved a marked 
success. 
I am interested in two questions which arise 
in this connection. One is as to whether it is 
possible to domestiacte our native caribou, of 
either the woodland or barren ground species, 
and I should be glad to know what efforts, if 
any, have ever been made to that end. It has 
long seemed to me that such efforts were very 
desirable, and unless the utterly intractable 
nature of the American caribou has already been 
demonstrated, which I very much doubt, I am 
convinced the subject well worth governmental 
attention. If in one of our native animals of 
the greatest strength and endurance we have all 
that the Lapland reindeer can furnish us, and 
more, it is worth a great deal of effort to bring 
him to the point of utility. 
1 he other question in my mind is, perhaps, 
not rightly to be discussed in this connection. 
I will, however, give it expression. In listening 
to Dr. Grenfell’s thrilling stories of his exper¬ 
iences in Labrador, and with the fullest admira¬ 
tion for what he has done for the scattered in¬ 
habitants of that unfriendly coast, I have yet 
been unable to repress in my own mind the 
question why people stayed in that forbidding 
region who could possibly get to warmer and 
more favored ones, and why it would not be 
best to try to afford the helpless remainder the 
means of removal. 
It has seemed to me that in the long run it 
would be a wiser charity to help them to come 
to Nova Scotia, for example, where their condi¬ 
tion would not be so trying and where they 
would not be, as now, cut off from all touch 
with mankind for so large a part of the year. 
But why need it be tacitly assumed that there 
they must remain to the end of time? Per¬ 
haps—for reasons not upon the surface—what I 
have suggested is impossible. Possibly these 
Labrador fishermen and their families would 
prove non-selfsupporting anywhere else. Per¬ 
haps if they were removed to more hospitable 
regions their places would be taken by others, 
hardy and adventurous and determined to wrest 
a living from “the furthest north” they can en¬ 
dure. I am not sociologist enough for the case, 
but I still wonder if it would not be in the end 
the wisest philanthropy to try to get the present 
inhabitants of the Labrador coast to migrate far 
enough south to make impossible the distress¬ 
ing conditions under which so many of them now 
ex ist- C. H. Ames. 
Antlers of Cow Caribou. 
iitor Forest and Stream: 
i There seems to be a variety of opinion on 
is question, and, like other mooted subjects, 
is interesting to note the different statements 
om time to time in the columns of Forest 
jd Stream. The query arises as to the uni- 
rmity of breed in different localities; are the 
j ribou of Newfoundland true reindeer, differing 
me degree from the mountain species? As 
>u are aware, for the past nine years, since the 
j vent of the railroad in British Columbia, I 
ve seen a large number of caribou in the 
old and Selkirk ranges (none in the Rockies) 
file hunting for game and mineral ledges, 
i tcepting the bulls, when roaming, none have 
en seen except in company of from four to 
enty. From June to October I have never 
I en a female caribou without horns after they 
me two years old; their horns vary greatly 
size and shape, being generally slim, un- 
en and scraggly, but four years ago I shot a 
ree-year-old in the Gold Range that was 
! 'Ssessed of so graceful and evenly matched 
II of antlers that I packed the head down the 
; luntain to camp and then brought it out to 
' 2 railroad station. It was sent to Winnipeg 
be mounted by Wm. Hine and now looks 
'wn upon me while writing. Inclosed find 
etch of the head, with measurements. 
Wayland. 
From Goodspeed’s Catalogue. 
SEMIPALMATED SNIPE OR WILLET, FROM “AUDUBON’S BIRDS OF AMERICA.” 
the broken apple. After watching it several 
inutes I stepped between it and the tree, and 
ith a small stick touched its tail. This so 
ightened it, that the first move it made was to 
in up the first thing it came to which happened 
11 be my trouser’s leg. It climbed nearly to my 
aist before discovering that it was not the tree, 
n getting to the ground the next object that 
Lj encountered was a lamppost which it climbed 
>out five feet before discovering that this was 
it a tree. Again reaching the ground it 
und the obj ect of its search, a large maple tree, 
hich it climbed about twenty feet and disap- 
:ared in a hole which I presumed was its home. 
Evidently these squirrels could not have been 
ore than two months old; as I have seen them 
ii large on the 31st of May. In the position 
saw them, the head and body did not look > 
/er three inches long, and they were utterly 
lable to eat the apple until it was broken up. 
he gardener told me that there were seven of 
, e young squirrels in the litter. 
Was it not unreasonably late for so young 
uirrels? J. L. Davison. 
Reindeer and Caribou. 
Boston, Feb. 16. —Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of Dec. 8 W. J. Carroll gave a 
very interesting account of the effort now mak¬ 
ing to introduce the Lapland reindeer into 
Labrador and discussed the suggestion that the 
native caribou would, if domesticated, be likely 
to prove the best solution of the Labrador prob¬ 
lem. 
It is well known that the devoted and able mis¬ 
sionary Dr. Grenfell, who has so long and so 
helpfully ministered to the wants, physical, in¬ 
tellectual and spiritual of the scattered and needy 
inhabitants of Labrador, is also actively engaged 
in furthering a similar project. There seems 
no reason whatever to doubt the entire feasi¬ 
bility of the plan since the scientific men have 
determined that the right species of moss for 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
From Goodspeed’s Catalogue. 
HORNED GREBE, FROM “AUDUBON’S BIRDS OF AMERICA.” 
'A*/ 
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