The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-02-14

Going back to the lakeside for water he saw large herd of caribou walking ur the snoW-covered ice. A few yards be- fore they reached his track the drove halted while one of the bucks went ur to inspect it. Returning to the herd he faced the rank of lowered heads as though discussing with them the situa' ton, then struck out in a certain direc- tion, but the herd failed to follow An other bull then stepped out and exam ined the track and went back to the herd, where another solemn consulta- tion was held. This bull mapped out a different line from that taken by the first, but the herd declined to accept his leadership. A third bull went forward and examined the trail, and when he in- dicated the proper course to be pursued all the drove lined up behind him and followed him across the lake without hesitation. There is no doubt that car- bou have perfect sense of locality. A gentleman in St. John kept one in cap- tivity for two years and then released him. He went directly to the bog, twelve miles away, where he had been captured.
 | The woodland caribou is first cous- in to the reindeer of Lapland, and if proper care is taken to supply him with suitable food it ought to be easy to do- mesticate him. In February last Braith- waite and his friend, Billy Chestnut, ran down a drove of caribou on snoW- shoes and lassoed two of them, to be taken to the Sportsmen's Exhibition at i Boston. The animals were thoroughly pumped out when overtaken, but after a few minutes revived, and when spoken to kindly, scratched on the neck, &c., seemed to lose all fear of their cap- tors, and no trouble was found in lead- ing them to camp, four miles away. The next day they would eat moss out of Braithwaite's hand. The guide drove them out to Richards logging works two days later, the caribou pausing now and then to nibble moss from the trees on the side of the trail. An old bull car- ibou, however, is usually a tough pro- position.
 Some of the Tobique hunters when stalking caribou on the snow wear suits of white The wearing of a red cap or red Mackinaw shirt by the hunter will sometimes produce immediate lunacy in an entire herd of caribou, and they will remain rooted to the spot while the th-dealing rifle is thinning out their ranks. But even in this matter of dry goods the caribou displays truly femi- nine fickleness of mind. An old hunter named George Brown, who attired him. self in red flannel last winter, believing that he could hypnotize the caribou, found that they could see him over mile away, and the herds all took flight before he could get within range.
 The only enemies the caribou has to fear among wild animals are the black bear and the lynx. The latter is very destructive to the young in the spring and summer months. The efforts Of bruin in stalking and pulling down un- wary stragglers from the herd are more successful than is commonly supposed. In the mating season, however, the bull caribou, like the goat that tackled the grindstone, has the courage of his con- victions, and, unless taken unawares, is apt to give the bear very stiff argu- ment Adam Moore of Scotch Lake, in October, 1897, was the witness of a re- markable battle between large black bear and a bull caribou. From subse- uuent examination of the ground it ap- peared that the bull was accompanied by three cows and lawn. The bear had evidently crept up on the fawn and killed it with one stroke of his paw, when the bull appeared and attacked the bear in a most valiant manner, the cows running off in the bush. Adam had just padded up the dead-water from camp and was lifting his canoe over an old beaver dam when he heard a runbing on the bank a few rods up stream He padded close to the com- batants, but they paid no heed to his presence. The bear refused to give up the dead fawn, but seemed to be hand icapped by guilty conscience. Whin- ing as if in protest at the unfriendly treatment he was receiving, he sat bolt upright on his trump, defending him. self with his fore paws as the agile car ibou circled him. The latter animal seemed to be wild with rage, and his | as he tried to impale the | bear, were so rapid that Adam could | scarcely follow them. The bear par ried the blows of his assailant adroitly, | but wore a bored expression as if he | really wished a eneral disarmament as long as nobody interfered with him. < Adam noticed that the carihou's neck | was bleeding from an open wound and . that the bear had been gored in the breast and flank Anxious as he was to see the issue of the fight, his sympathy I for the caribou was too strong to be . resisted and he brought down the bear with well-aimed shot. Even when his enemy was dead the caribou continued ! to strike at him with his sauceer-like hoofs, while Adam silently watched him from the dead-water. Then, being convinced that he had slain his hated foe, the bull uttered loud grunt of triumph and rambled off in search of the harem.-New York Sun.