[Fig. 1.]Half a dozen caribou trails along the Middle Ridge, looking SE. Ground plants: Ledum decumbens, Empetrum nigrum, Arcto­staphylos alpina, Loiseleuria procumbens, and various lichens, including Cladonia. A miniature “glacier” in the distance. June 24, 1947.[33]
[2.] Caribou trails on the 50-foot-high Little River Ridge. Picea mariana, Betula glandulosa, and Empetrum nigrum. June 19, 1947.[33]
[3.] A Caribou buck (specimen No. 1065) being skinned by Fred, Mike, and Rita at the Bear Slough. August 17, 1947.[34]
[4.] Skull, antlers, skin, and hind quarter of the same Caribou being transported to camp along the Camp Ridge. August 17, 1947.[34]
[5.] Anoteelik and Mike preparing to bring in a load of caribou meat with dogs and travois. Windy River post, August 19, 1947.[35]
[6.] Anoteelik and Mike pegging out caribou hides to dry on a gravelly ridge near the mouth of Windy River. August 23, 1947.[35]
[7.] About 75 Caribou (bucks, does, and fawns) at a rapid on Little River. August 25, 1947.[36]
[8.] About 22 Caribou crossing Little River at a rapid. Chiefly does and fawns, with several bucks bringing up the rear. August 26, 1947.[36]
[9.] A band of Caribou swimming across Little River at its mouth and landing on the western shore. Toward the left, a doe standing broadside and enveloped in a cloud of spray being shaken off. August 28, 1947. (From a 16-mm. motion picture.)[53]
[10.] Two Caribou bucks standing in the edge of Little River at its mouth after swimming across. August 28, 1947. (From a 16-mm. motion picture.)[53]
[11.] A one-horned doe, a hornless doe, a fawn, and a two-horned doe among a band of Caribou approaching the camera within a rod after swimming across Little River. August 28, 1947. (From a 16-mm. motion picture.)[54]
[12.] A band of Caribou (chiefly big bucks) swimming across Little River at its mouth. August 28, 1947.[54]
[13.] Camp Slough, with trails showing the recent passage of Caribou through the sedge growth (predominantly Carex chordorrhiza). Black spruce in the foreground and distance. August 29, 1947.[55]
[14.] A Caribou Elysium: a hornless doe approaching within 15 feet of the photographer at the mouth of Little River. August 30, 1947.[55]
[15.] Anoteelik in caribou-skin clothing, holding a caribou spear. A buck on the skyline. Mouth of Windy River, September 7, 1947.[56]
[16.] Katello, a Padleimiut Eskimo from the upper Kazan River, in a coat (attigi) and boots (komik) of caribou skin. Windy River, Oct. 6, 1947.[56]
[17.] Charles Schweder with the fresh, warble-infested hide of a Caribou buck (specimen No. 1033). Windy River, June 3, 1947.[56]
[18.] Hide of a Caribou doe, about four years old, with about 130 small warbles or warble scars (concentrated on the rump). Windy River, September 15, 1947.[56]
[19.] Caribou tracks in mud; one about 114 by 95 mm.; another, 102 by 102 mm. Between Bear Slough and Eider Pond, September 3, 1947.[89]
[20.] Caribou track in 2-inch snow; hind foot superimposed on track of front foot. Combined track about 153 by 127 mm. Camp Ridge, October 29, 1947.[89]
[21.] A Caribou doe (specimen No. 1101). Mouth of Windy River, September 21, 1947.[90]
[22.] A Caribou buck (specimen No. 1111). Mouth of Windy River, September 29, 1947.[90]
[23.] A male Caribou fawn (specimen No. 1095), in its first, woolly pelage. Mouth of Windy River, September 7, 1947.[91]
[24.] Hoofs of a male Caribou fawn (specimen No. 1072); hind hoofs in the middle. Mouth of Windy River, August 21, 1947.[91]
[25.] Enormous set of old antlers of a Barren Ground Caribou, with exceptional palmation. (A 10.5-inch length of a steel rule visible.) Simons’ Lake, October 15, 1947.[92]
[26.] Rubbing trees: two small black spruces (Picea mariana)—the larger 4 feet high—broken and barked by Caribou in rubbing velvet off the antlers. Simons’ Lake, October 18, 1947.[92]
[27.] Pile o’ Rocks, an ancient enclosure erected as a game lookout on the summit of a hill 1.5 miles NW. of the mouth of Windy River. June 30, 1947.[93]
[28.] Adult male Western Woodland Caribou (Rangifer caribou sylvestris) (No. 235361, U.S. Biol. Surveys Coll.). Stony Mountain, about 27 miles S. of Fort McMurray, Alberta, October 22, 1920. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)[94]

[Introduction]

No other large North American land mammal is of such primary importance as the Barren Ground Caribou (Rangifer arcticus arcticus) as a source of food and clothing for so many primitive Eskimo and Indian tribes; no other performs such extensive and spectacular migrations; no other may be seen in such vast herds; no other exhibits so close an approach to a Garden-of-Eden trustfulness in the presence of man. And perhaps no other is more worthy of being cherished and safeguarded in its natural haunts for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

The original valid designation, in technical nomenclature, of the Barren Ground Caribou of the Mackenzie-Keewatin region dates back to 1829, when Sir John Richardson described it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana as Cervus tarandus var. arctica. The type locality is Fort Enterprise (about lat. 64° 30´ N., long. 113° W.), on Winter Lake, an expansion of Snare River, Mackenzie. Since the typical subspecies appears to lack a distin­guishing common name, it would seem fitting to associate with it the name of its worthy describer; thus, Richardson’s Barren Ground Caribou. The author’s intimate acquaintance with the animal should have enabled him to draw up a somewhat fuller and more adequate description than he did. Previous travelers in the Barren Grounds, among whom Samuel Hearne (1795) was particularly notable, had contributed accounts of the species, without differen­tiating it from the Lapland Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) or without giving it a distinctive technical name.

Since Richardson’s time the mainland form of western Canada has been discussed by many zoologists and explorers. The most comprehensive account of its life history hitherto published is that by Seton (1929, 3: 95-135),[1] whose personal experience was gained in the region of Artillery, Clinton-Colden, and Aylmer lakes. Dearth of adequate material (particularly from the type locality or adjacent areas) makes it all but impossible to determine whether there is any significant geographical variation between the herds of central Mackenzie and those of Keewatin.

The foremost objective of an expedition I made in 1947 to Nueltin Lake, in southwestern Keewatin, was a study of the Barren Ground Caribou. The expedition was supported by the Arctic Institute of North America, with funds supplied by the Office of Naval Research. My headquarters were at the little Windy River trading post, at the northwestern extremity of Nueltin Lake ([map 1]). There, for a period of six months, I enjoyed the fine hospitality of Charles Schweder and Fred Schweder, Jr. They had lived on intimate terms with the Caribou during most of their youthful lives, and they freely shared with me the knowledge they had thus gained concerning the ways of life of these wonderful creatures. They secured nearly all the specimens that went into my collection. The three other residents of the post also deserve my gratitude for their general helpfulness and friendliness; they were 10-year-old Mike Schweder (brother of Charles and Fred), 15-year-old Anoteelik (an Eskimo boy), and the latter’s sister, 5-year-old Rita.

In a previous paper (1953) I have endeavored to express to various officials and friends my sincere appreciation of their courtesy and generosity in furthering the work of the expedition; and I can scarcely forbear to repeat here the names of at least a few of them: Dr. A. L. Washburn, at that time executive director of the Arctic Institute of North America; Mr. R. A. Gibson, deputy commissioner of the Admini­stration of the Northwest Territories; and Mr. G. W. Malaher, director of the Game and Fisheries Branch, Manitoba. For the loan of a motion-picture camera, which secured for me some extremely gratifying scenes of the migrant hosts on the Barrens, I am greatly indebted to Mr. William C. Morrow. Dr. Ralph S. Palmer has kindly read, and made helpful comments upon, a preliminary draft of the present report.

Through the courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, the United States National Museum, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, I have been able to examine important comparative material in their collections.

A grant from the National Science Foundation has enabled me to carry the investigation through to completion.

[1.] This statement, written long before the appearance of Banfield’s work of 1954, no longer applies.