The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-12-05
The American Reindeer.

Inc artlst, Mr. ~. ". Ward, mas
paper in Scribner on Caribou-H Hunt
ing" from which we quote as follows !:
The animal is very compact in form,
possessed of great speed and endurance,
and is very Ishmaelite in its wander.
ing habits I; changing, as the pest of flies
draws near, from the low-lying swamps
and woods where its principal article of
diet, the Gadonia rangeferina, or rein
deer lichen, abounds, to the highest
mountain Businesses then again as the
cold nights give warning OF the chang
ing season, descending to the plains.
Horns are common to both sexes, but
the horns of the bucks are seldom car
ried later than the month of December,
while the does carry theirs all winter,
and use them to defend the fawns
against the attacks of the bucks. Both
sexes use their hoofs to clear away the
snow in searching for mosses on the
barrens. In their biennial migrations
they form we'll defined tracks or paths,
along which the herds travel in Indian
file. I have often studied their habits
on the extensive caribou barrens between
New river and the head of Lake Utopia,
in Charlotte county, New Brunswick.
in extent, and marked with we'll
trails, over which the animals were con-
stantly passing and re-passing, here and
there spending day where the lichens
afforded good living, then away again
on their never. ending wanderings.
A friend of mine, who visited New
foundland on an exploring expedition,
informs me that there the caribou holds
almost exclusive domain over an un-
broken wilderness of nearly thirty thou
sand square miles, in country wonder
fully adapted to his habits, and
bountifully supplied with his favorite
food-the reindeer icheu.
The caribou is possessed OF much
curiosity, and does not readily take alarm
at what he sees. Where his haunts
have been unmOlested, he Will uncon-
cernedly trot up within range of the
rife. am inclined to believe that a
great deal of this apparent fearlessness
is due to defective vision. If this is so, he
is compensated by having marvellous
gift of scent, quite equal, if not supe-
rior, to that of the moose. And well
for the caribou that he is thus gifted.
The wolf follows the herds throughout
all their wanderings. On the plains or
on the hills, where the poor caribou re-
tire to rear their young, he is constantly
lurking near, ready to pounce on any
straggler, or-if in sufficient numbers
to boldly attack the herd.
The woodland caribou is very swift,
and cunning in devices to escape his
pursuers his gait is long swinging
trot, which he performs with his head
NAL of the deer tribe that affords better
sport or more delicious food when cap
tnred. The wandering habits of the
caribou make it very uncertain where
one will fall in with him, even in his ac-
customed and we'll known haunts. When
once started, the chase is sure to be a
long one, and its results doubtful-in
fact SO much so that an old hunter sell
dom follows up retreating herd, but
resorts to strategy and tries to head
them of, or at once proceeds by the
shortest way to some other barren in
hopes of finding them there.
The caribou is very fond of the water,
is capital swimmer, and in jumping he
is more than the equal of any other
deer. His adventurous disposition, no
doubt, in some degree influences the
geographical distribution of the species.
In the month of December. 1877, Carl
bou was discovered floating out to sea
on cake of ice near Dalhousie, on the
Restigouche river in New Brunswick,
and was captured alive by some men
who put off to him in boat.
1t is said that in very severe seasons
large numbers of caribou cross from
Labrador to Newfoundland on the ice.
His admirably-constructed hoof, with its
sharp, shell-like, cutting edges, enables
him to cross the icy foes when travel.
ing in deep snow, its lateral expansion
prevents him from sinking.