which is beginning to get red and high flavoured and is
considered a sure indication of the commencement of the rutting season.
Their horns, which in the middle of August were yet tender, have now
attained their proper size and are beginning to lose their hairy covering
which hangs from them in ragged filaments. The horns of the reindeer vary
not only with its sex and age but are otherwise so uncertain in their
growth that they are never alike in any two individuals. The old males
shed theirs about the end of December; the females retain them until the
disappearance of the snow enables them to frequent the barren grounds
which may be stated to be about the middle or end of May, soon after
which period they proceed towards the sea-coast and drop their young. The
young males lose their horns about the same time with the females or a
little earlier, some of them as early as April. The hair of the reindeer
falls in July and is succeeded by a short thick coat of mingled clove,
deep reddish and yellowish browns; the belly and under parts of the neck,
etc., remaining white. As the winter approaches the hair becomes longer
and lighter in its colours and it begins to loosen in May, being then
much worn on the sides from the animal rubbing itself against trees and
stones. It becomes grayish and almost white before it is completely shed.
The Indians form their robes of the skins procured in autumn when the
hair is short. Towards the spring the larvae of the oestrus, attaining a
large size, produce so many perforations in the skins that they are good
for nothing. The cicatrices only of these holes are to be seen in August
but a fresh set of ova have in the meantime been deposited.*

(*Footnote. "It is worthy of remark that in the month of May a very great
number of large larvae exist under the mucous membrane at the root of the
tongue and posterior part of the nares and pharynx. The Indians consider
them to belong to the same species with the oestrus that deposits its ova
under the skin: to us the larvae of the former appeared more flattened
than those of the latter. Specimens of both kinds preserved in spirits
were destroyed by the frequent falls they received on the portages." Dr.
Richardson's Journal.)

The reindeer retire from the sea-coast in July and August, rut in October
on the verge of the barren grounds and shelter themselves in the woods
during the winter. They are often induced by a few fine days in winter to
pay a tran