2 Field Museum of Natural History 



but it is also due in part to the animal's habits which 

 are very adaptable. It will often maintain itself for 

 years in a small piece of woodland only a few square 

 miles in extent. Its original range included all of eas- 

 tern North America from the mouth of the St. Law- 

 rence River west to the Rocky Mountains and south to 

 the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois and most of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, it is 

 now wholly exterminated, but elsewhere it remains 

 common wherever there is sufficient cover for it to 

 exist. Except in the extreme western part of its range 

 it is the only species of deer to be found. In southern 

 Michigan and southern Wisconsin it has retreated be- 

 fore civilization and intensive cultivation of the land, 

 but in the northern parts of these states it is exceed- 

 ingly abundant. In Illinois, it is probably entirely ex- 

 tinct, although as recently as 1909 it was reported from 

 Union and Alexander counties in the extreme southern 

 part of the state. 



The whitetails of the eastern United States are 

 divided into several varieties or subspecies, as follows : 

 The Virginia Whitetail (Odocoileus virginianus) , 

 which is of medium size and is now found principally 

 in Virginia, West Virginia and the Carolinas; the 

 Northern Whitetail {Odocoileus v. borealis), which is 

 the largest variety and which ranges from Maine and 

 New Brunswick westward at least to Manitoba; the 

 Plains Whitetail (Odocoileus v. macrourus), which is 

 said to have an unusually long tail and which formerly 

 inhabited river bottoms throughout the Great Plains 

 region, but is now almost extinct ; the Florida Whitetail 

 {Odocoileus v. osceola), which is the smallest variety 

 and is confined to Florida; and the Louisiana White- 

 tail {Odocoileus v. louisianae) , which is relatively 

 large in size and inhabits the lowlands of Louisiana 

 and eastern Texas. Besides these of the United States 



[2] 



