224 



BKANCH VEKTEBRATA. 



The Virginia Deer is the common Deer of the United 

 States. It differs in size according to locality, the South- 

 ern specimens being smaller.* Its antlers bend forward, 



FIG. 387. 



Cer'vus vir gin i a' nits. Virginia Deer. (^3.) Deer Fighting. 



with varying prongs. The males while fighting some- 

 times interlock their antlers, and unable to release them- 

 selves, perish miserably. The spotted young are called 

 Fawns, and may be easily domesticated. The sagacity of 

 the Deer is shown in taking to the water when hunted 

 with dogs, its greater height giving it a footing, while 

 they, compelled to swim, are comparatively helpless. 



* The Deer is a great destroyer of rattlesnakes, cutting them to pieces, by 

 alighting upon them with all four feet. Its skin is tanned by the Indians by 

 pounding in a solution of its own brains, and is known as "buck-skin." 



