On September 12 Charles Schweder stated that the does would soon be losing their milk; yet on occasion he has found them with milk as late as November (cf. Jacobi, 1931: 235). On September 21, when he secured a doe (fig. 21) that was accompanied by a fawn, I asked if he thought the latter was still nursing. By way of answer, he squeezed a couple of the doe’s mammae, and some milk exuded. Thus the mammary glands were still functioning at that date; they appeared well developed. By August 27, at an age of perhaps two and a half months, the fawns were browsing on their own account, and their teeth were well developed. Fred Schweder, Jr., then spoke of having seen fawns nursing four times during that month, the last occasion having been on the 25th. On the 27th I had the rare privilege of witnessing such a nursery rite across the mouth of Little River. The wilderness baby was so large that it was obliged to lower its forequarters very decidedly in order to reach the maternal font (from a lateral position). This attitude left its hind quarters thrust high and ludicrously into the air. I did not notice that it wriggled its tail as a bovine calf might have; but Charles Schweder spoke of having seen a fawn hold its tail erect while nursing. He also said that the bigger fawns kneel down with their front legs while so engaged. In his opinion, when a doe is killed in the autumn, its fawn does not go and join other Caribou, but lingers near the fatal spot until a Wolf or some other enemy overcomes it. For this reason it is his practice to secure the fawn also, if possible, when he takes the mother. On September 13 a fawn remained by its dead mother, permitting one of the hunters to approach within 30 feet and to throw rocks at it three times, finally taking it by that means. After a doe was killed on September 21, its fawn lingered in the vicinity for a day or two.
References.—Franklin, 1823: 242; Richardson, “1825”: 329; John Ross, 1835a: 432; Simpson, 1843: 277, 281, 381; J. McLean, 1932 (1849): 359; Armstrong, 1857: 477-478; Murray, 1858: 202; Osborn, 1865: 227; Nourse, 1884: 264-265; Pike, 1917 (1892): 204, 209; Dowling, 1893: 107: Russell, 1895: 51; R. M. Anderson, 1913b: 504-505; Hewitt, 1921: 62; Blanchet, 1926b: 47; Seton, 1929, 3: 124-125; Blanchet, 1930: 49, 53; Critchell-Bullock, 1930: 192, 193; Sutton and Hamilton, 1932: 86; Ingstad, 1933: 161; Clarke, 1940: 88-90; Gavin, 1945: 228; Banfield, 1951a: 26, 27; Scott, 1951: 179, 180; Barnett, 1954: 96.
Fig. 22. A Caribou buck (specimen No. 1111). Mouth of Windy River, September 29, 1947.
[ Growth]
During late August and early September the fawns probably averaged about 50 lb. in weight. (For the measurements of two specimens, see the section on Measurements.) Yet they varied so much in size that some appeared nearly twice as big as others. On September 7 an exceptionally small fawn was secured (estimated weight, 35 lb.) (fig. 23). Its coat was soft and woolly, representing an earlier stage than that seen in any of the other fawns of that season. It was molting into the next pelage, and its hide was unprime. It must have been born at an unusually late date. Fred Schweder, Jr., remarked that he sometimes sees this stage in the growth of fawns when the Caribou come down early from the north (about the first of August), but it seems remarkable that it should have been found in a September fawn. The present specimen has actually smaller measurements than one secured on August 2 at Artillery Lake (Seton, 1929, 3: 97). The collector reported that the parent doe appeared of ordinary size—not a particularly small or young one. The yearlings noted on the spring migration in May (south of Churchill) and in June (at Nueltin Lake) appeared roughly half the size of the adults.