THE PRONG-BUCK. 285 



well adapted to catch the faintest sound. The 

 hair is coarse, crimped or wavy; growing in a 

 tuft on the forehead, and during summer in a 

 mane on the neck and back of the male. 



About the posterior third of the back is an 

 opening like the tear-gland in the face of a deer, 

 from which a musky-smelling secretion continu- 

 ally oozes. The animal has also the power of 

 erecting the hair of the white patches on its rump, 

 as a peacock spreads its tail, or a wolf bristles its 

 back. This power of elevating, or apparently 

 puffing-out, these snowy markings, adds immensely 

 to the general beauty of the prong-buck. When 

 wooing, or striving to make the most favourable 

 impression on his harem of does, or when in 

 defence of his wives he rushes at some intrusive 

 rival, the snowy round patches are 'ruffed' to 

 treble their natural size. 



The geographical distribution of the prong- 

 buck is rather extensive. North it is found as 

 far as the northern branches of the Saskatchewan, 

 53 N. lat. It ranges over all the plains from the 

 Missouri to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains ; southerly into Mexico, as far as the mouth 

 of the Rio Grande ; through Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia, and into Washington Territory, along the 

 banks of the Columbia, to the Spokan river. 



