igrations to and from the coast, and it
has been observed that they always travel against the wind. The
principal food of the rein-deer in the barren grounds, consists of the
_cetraria nivalis_ and _cucullata_, _cenomyce rangiferina_,
_cornicularia ochrileuca_, and other lichens, and they also eat the hay
or dry grass which is found in the swamps in autumn. In the woods they
feed on the different lichens which hang from the trees. They are
accustomed to gnaw their fallen antlers, and are said also to devour
mice.

The weight of a full grown barren-ground deer, exclusive of the offal,
varies from ninety to one hundred and thirty pounds. There is, however,
a much larger kind found in the woody parts of the country, whose
carcase weighs from two hundred to two hundred and forty pounds. This
kind never leaves the woods, but its skin is as much perforated by the
gad-fly as that of the others; a presumptive proof that the smaller
species are not driven to the sea-coast solely by the attacks of that
insect. There are a few rein-deer occasionally killed in the spring,
whose skins are entire, and these are always fat, whereas the others are
lean at that season. This insect likewise infests the red-deer
(_wawaskeesh_,) but its ova are not found in the skin of the moose, or
buffalo, nor, as we have been informed, of the sheep and goat that
inhabit the Rocky Mountains, although the rein-deer found in those
parts, (which are of an unusually large kind,) are as much tormented by
them as the barren-ground variety.

The herds of rein-deer are attended in their migrations by bands of
wolves, which destroy a great many of them. The Copper Indians kill the
rein-deer in the summer with the gun, or taking advantage of a
favourable disposition of the ground, they enclose a herd upon a neck of
land, and drive them into a lake, where they fall an easy prey; but in
the rutting season and in the spring, when they are numerous on the
skirts of the woods, they catch them in snares. The snares are simple
nooses, formed in a rope made of twisted sinew, which are placed in the
aperture of a slight hedge, constructed of the branches of trees. This
hedge is so disposed as to form several winding compartments, and
although it is by no means strong, yet the deer seldom attempt to break
through it. The herd is led into the labyrinth by two converging rows of
poles, and one is generally caught at each of the openings by the noose
placed there. The hunter