lose their horns until they are about to drop their young in the month of May.
Hearne observes, that the Barren-Ground Caribou bears horns twice the size of
those of the woodland variety, notwithstanding that the latter is a much larger
animal.
In the month of July 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 extremities, 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 stones' and rocks, until all the
coloured tops of the hair are worn off, and their fur appears to be entirely of a
soiled white colour.
The closeness of the hair of the Caribou, and the lightness of its skin, when
properly dressed, renders it the most appropriate article for winter clothing in the
high latitudes. The skins of the young deer make the best dresses, and they
should be killed for that purpose in the months of August or September, as after
the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. The prime parts of
eight or ten deer-skins make a complete suit of clothing for a grown person,
which is so impervious to the cold, that, with the addition of a blanket of
the same material, any one, so clothed, may bivouack on the snow with safety,
and even with comfort, in the most intense cold of an Arctic winter’s night.
The hoofs of this variety of rein-deer are very large, and spread greatly; and
the posterior or accessory ones make a loud clattering noise when the animal
runs. The forms of the latter are almost always visible in its foot-marks, unless
the ground be so hard that even the principal hoofs make little impression.
The Barren-Ground Caribou, which resort to the coast of the Arctic Sea, in
summer, retire in winter to the woods lying between the sixty-third and the sixty-
sixth degree of latitude, where they feed on the usnece, alectorice, and other lichens,
which hang from the trees, and on the long grass of the swamps. About the end
of April, when the partial melting of the snow has softened the cetrariie, cornicularite,
and cenomyces, which clothe the barren-grounds like a carpet, they make short
excursions from the woods, but return to them when the weather is frosty. In
May the females proceed towards the sea-coast, and towards the end of June the
males are in full march in the same direction. At that period the power of the
sun has dried up the lichens on the barren-grounds, and the Caribou frequent the
moist pastures which cover the bottoms of the narrow vallies on the coasts and
islands of the Arctic Sea, where they graze on the sprouting carices, and on the
withered grass or hay of the preceding year, which is at that period still standing,
and retaining part of its sap. Their spring journey is performed partly on the
snow, and partly, after the snow has disappeared, on the ice covering the rivers
and lakes, which have, in general, a northerly direction. Soon after their arrival
on the coast the females drop their young ; they commence their return to the
south in September, and reach the vicinity of the woods towards the end of October,
where they are joined by the males. This journey takes place after the snow has
fallen, and they scrape it away with their feet to procure the lichens, which are
then tender and pulpy, being preserved moist and unfrozen by the heat still
remaining in the earth. Except in the rutting season, the bulk of the males and
females live separately : the former retire deeper into the woods in the winter,
whilst herds of the pregnant does stay on the skirts of the Barren Grounds, and
proceed to the coast very early in spring. Captain Parry saw deer on Melville
Peninsula as late as the 23d of September, and the females, with their fawns,
made their first appearance on the 22d of April. The males in general do not go
so far north as the females. On the coast of Hudson’s Bay the Barren-Ground
Caribou migrate further south than those on the Coppermine or Mackenzie Rivers ;
but none of them go to the southward of Churchill.
The lichens, on which the Caribou principally feed whilst on the Barren-Grounds,
are the coriiicultxricL tvistis, divergent, and ochvileucu, the cetrariu nivulis, cuculluta,
and islandica, and the cmomyce rangiferim. When in condition, there is a layer
of fat deposited on the back and rump of the males to the depth of two or three
inches or more, immediately under the skin, which is termed dépouillé by the
Canadian voyagers ; and as an article of Indian trade, it is often of more value
than all the remainder of the carcass. The dépouillé is thickest at the commencement
of the rutting season; it then becomes of a red colour, and acquires a high
flavour, and soon afterwards disappears. The females at that period are lean ;
but in the course of the winter they acquire a small dépouillé, which is exhausted