The Woodland Caribou and the Barren-ground Caribou are the names given to a larger and a smaller breed in Canada. Both are hunted by the Indians for their flesh as well as for their hides, the venison obtained from the latter being held in high estimation. The pounded meat, when mixed with melted fat, is known as pemmican. The tongue is esteemed a great delicacy.
The Reindeer, from the nature of the country it inhabits, is compelled to lead a migratory life, in which the natives of Lapland, who have to depend entirely for their sustenance on the animal, have to participate. Troops of them during the winter months reside in the woods, feeding on the lichens that depend from boughs of the trees, as well as on those that grow upon the ground beneath. In the spring they repair to the mountains in order to escape the swarms of stinging Gnats and Gad-flies which infest the air, and inflict wounds in the skin of most serious severity.
THE AMERICAN DEER.
In America there are several species of Deer which differ considerably from those of the Old World. In our remarks on these animals we will not include among them the Wapiti and the Elk: the Wapiti, because it is nothing but a large representative of the Red Deer of Great Britain; the Elk, because it stands very much by itself, at the same time that it is found in the Arctic Old World as well as in America. We ourselves think that the Reindeer conforms to the American type of structure, and have therefore described it in relation with the New World Deer, although most authors class it not far from the Elk.
None of the typical Deer of America attain any considerable size, and their antlers are decidedly small when contrasted with those of the Old World. The species which will be first described is the VIRGINIAN DEER, which is the “Common” Deer of North America, and is slightly smaller than the Fallow Deer. Its colour is uniform, being of a reddish-yellow in summer and light grey in winter. The individual members of the species are small in Mexico, and get larger as they live more north. The antlers belong to the extreme rucervine type, their beams turning outwards and forwards in a very characteristic manner, with several points directed upwards from their convex border. The brow-tyne is short and pointed upwards instead of forwards. The tail is nearly a foot and a half in length. In disposition it is timid and wild, and is therefore domesticated with difficulty. Its flesh was in times gone by one of the staple articles of food of the aborigines. Audubon and other authors have described in detail the various modes employed in capturing these Deer, including the “still hunt,” “jack hunt,” “fire hunt,” &c., according to the nature of the country.
The MULE DEER and the BLACK-TAILED DEER are not far distantly related North American species. The former is slightly larger than the Virginian and of a heavier build. Its tail is short, tufted, and white; its colour a dark grey in winter, dull yellow in summer. Its name was suggested from its lengthy ears. The latter is smaller, and has shorter legs. Its colour is tawny grey, the short tail black above and white below. Of both these species the antlers differ from the Virginian Deer in detail, only the brow tyne of the Black-tailed species being rudimentary, at the same time that the snags on the convex margin of the beam spring from a single stem instead of independently. In the Mule Deer they are smaller and less branched. Lord Walsingham, in writing of them, remarks, “They appear to frequent the thick willow clumps and other brushwood bordering the streams and swamps. They were extremely difficult to distinguish among the foliage, and remarkably quick when alarmed. As they bound off over logs and fallen trees, or dash through the thicket, they have a habit of swinging their broad white tails with a conspicuous flourish, which becomes annoying to a sportsman, to whom they never afford anything but a snap shot, which is very apt to fail.”
GUAZUTI DEER.
The GUAZUS are small South American Deer with large ears and short tails, in which the antlers want the brow tyne, and have the beam branched in almost exactly the same way as Schomburgk’s Deer when not quite full grown. The Guazuti, one of them, is not more than two feet six inches in height.