330 Mr. Douglas on North American Mammalia. 



collar. The wings at the same time hang down over the feet. This posi- 

 tion they invariably preserve in de^^- mornings or after rains. 



Except after eating, or while protecting the nest, they are so excesssively 

 wary, that the hunter can scarcely ever approach sufficiently near, even 

 for buck-shot to take effect on them, the fullness of the plumage affording 

 them a double chance of escaping uninjured. Their flight is slow, 

 steady, and particularly graceful; gliding along with scarcely any 

 apparent motion of the wings, the tips of which are curved upwards in 

 flying. Preceding hurricanes or thunder-storms they are seen most nu- 

 merous and soar the highest. The quills are used by the hunters as tubes 

 for tobacco pipes. 



Specimens, male and female, of this truly interesting bird, which I 

 shot in lat.45. 30. 15., long. 122. 3. 12., were lately presented by the 

 Council of the Horticultural Society to the Zoological Society, in whose 

 Museum they are now carefully deposited. 



Art. XLIV. Observations on two undescribed species of 

 North American Mammalia. By David Douglas, 

 F.L.S., ^c. 



Cervus leucurus. 



Long or white-tailed Deer, Chevreuil of the Canadian Voyagers. 



Horns ramose, slender, smooth, round, much turned forwards. Length 

 of the body from the nose to the root of the tail 4 feet 3 inches. Height 

 of the fore shoulder 3 feet 5 inches; that of the hind quarter the 

 same; girth behind the fore legs 3 feet 5 inches; distance between 

 the eyes 5 inches. Ears 8 inches. Tail 12 to 15 inches. Head, 

 neck, body, and legs light grey, changing to a reddish brovm in 

 summer. Belly, inside of the legs and thighs, and under the tail, 

 white ; ancles yellowish brown. Lips and tips of the ears black. From 

 a full grown animal, four years old, the follovnng dimensions will shew 

 correctly the curvature of the horns. Distance between the roots 1 f 



4 



