The skin which covers the base of the antlers of this animal is traversed by a large number of blood vessels, which supply the phosphate of lime necessary to solidify the bony parts. Up to the time when the antler has acquired the full growth which it is to attain in each year, this skin continues to receive the requisite flow of blood; it retains, in fact, its living action. But as soon as the growth is complete, and it becomes bony, the burrs increase in size, strangulate the vessels, and stop the flow of the alimentary fluid. This skin then withers and comes away from the antler, which, thus laid bare and no longer receiving nourishment, gradually wastes away or decays, and falls off at the end of a few months, again making its appearance in the approaching season.
Nearly all the members of this family are remarkable for the elegance of their shape, the dignity of their attitudes, the grace and vivacity of their movements, the slenderness of their limbs, and the sustained rapidity of their flight. They have a very short tail; moderately sized and pointed ears, and their eyes are clear and full of gentleness.
The coat of Ruminants which shed their horns is generally brown or fawn-colored. It is composed of short, close and brittle hair, which assumes a somewhat woolly nature in the inclement regions of the extreme north, more especially in the winter season.
These Ruminants live in small droves or herds in forests, on mountains or plains, and feed on leaves, buds, grass, moss, or the bark of trees, etc. They are distributed over all the surface of the globe, both in the hottest and coldest climates. The Reindeer and Elk are peculiar to the northern regions of both continents; but numerous species are, on the contrary, found in hot and temperate countries.
The family of Ruminants which shed their horns comprehends three genera—the Reindeer, the Elk, and the Deer proper—all differing in the shape and size of their antlers.
The Reindeer is of about the size of the Red Deer, but its legs are shorter and thicker. The horns, which exist in both sexes, are divided into several branches; at first they are slender and pointed, but as they grow they extend, and ultimately terminate in broad and toothed palmations. The hair of this animal, which is brown in summer, becomes almost white as winter approaches—a circumstance which accounts for the idea among the ancients, that the “Tarandus” could assume any color it thought proper.