For the purpose of comparing the Barren Ground Caribou with the Western Woodland Caribou, Rangifer caribou sylvestris (Richardson), the following notes are offered on an adult male of the latter form in the United States Biological Surveys Collection (No. 235361; fig. 28). It was secured by a Cree Indian on Stony Mountain, about 27 miles south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, on October 21, 1920, and it was measured and prepared by myself. The general dorsal color is near Prout’s Brown, overlaid more or less with longer whitish hairs; outer surface of ears near Prout’s Brown, with an admixture of grayish white hairs; tip of snout, between nostrils and upper lip, Cartridge Buff; this area of more restricted extent than the similar patch in arcticus; neck creamy; longest hairs of throat fringe about 20 mm. (longer than in arcticus); no appreciable dark longitudinal stripe on lower sides, but an ill-defined lighter patch on the side behind the shoulder; rump-patch apparently less extensive than in R. a. arcticus; venter near Buffy Brown, posteriorly creamy; creamy white “spats” above hoofs ¼ to 1½ inches wide, not extending up hind leg as indicated by Seton (1929, 3: pl. 10). Length, 2025; tail, 225; foot, 625; front hoof, 109; hind hoof, 101; estimated weight, 300 lb. The Western Woodland Caribou is thus a distinctly larger animal than R. a. arcticus, with a noteworthy difference in the virtual absence of a light lateral stripe, setting off a darker stripe below it. The specific distinctness between the two animals seems abundantly clear.
Fig. 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.)
References to general descriptions (including geographical variation).—Richardson, 1829: 239, 241-242; Armstrong, 1857: 478; Baird, 1857: 635; Caton, 1881: 105; Lydekker, 1898: 47-48, 1901: 38-40, and 1915: 254; Elliot, 1901: 37, and 1902: 281-282, 286-287; Preble, 1902: 42-43; Stone and Cram, 1904: 52; J. A. Allen, 1908a: 488; Millais, 1915: 261; Buchanan, 1920: 125-126; Anthony, 1928: 530-531; Seton, 1929, 3: 98-99; Jacobi, 1931: 78-80; Sutton and Hamilton, 1932: 88; Degerbøl, 1935: 48-51; R. M. Anderson, 1937: 103; Hamilton, 1939: 109; Murie, 1939: 239; G. M. Allen, 1942: 297-298; Wright, 1944: 195; Rand, 1948a: 211-212; Banfield, 1951a: 15-17; Mochi and Carter, 1953: text to pl. 9.
References to illustrations.—Parry, 1824: pl. facing p. 508; Richardson, 1829: 240; Caton, 1881: 207; Pike, 1917 (1892): pl. facing p. 89; J. B. Tyrrell, 1897: pl. 1; J. W. Tyrrell, 1908 (1898): pls. facing pp. 80, 81; Grant, 1903: 6th and 7th pls. following p. 196; J. A. Allen, 1908a: 500-503; Seton, 1911: 254, 256, 262, and pls. facing pp. 222, 224, 226, 228, 234; Buchanan, 1920: pl. facing p. 132; Hewitt, 1921: pls. 3, 5; Blanchet, 1926b: 47; Seton, 1929, 3: pls. 17, 21, 22, 23; Blanchet, 1930: 50; Sutton and Hamilton, 1932: pl. 8, fig. 4; Ingstad, 1933: pl. facing p. 178; Clarke, 1940: frontisp., 85, 87, 89; Harper, 1949: 224, 229; Banfield, 1951a: figs. 1, 2, 12-16, 20, 21, 23; Anonymous, 1952: 261, 263, 266, 267; Mochi and Carter, 1953: pl. 9; Barnett, 1954: 90-91, 103-105.
[Literature Cited]
Alcock, F. J.