108 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



are grown and his fiercest animosity poured out. Strange to 

 tell, in battles with his own kind his antlers prove almost 

 wholly weapons of defence. Desperate effort and trifling 

 bloodshed seems to be a fair summary of the usual fight be- 

 tween two bucks. 



A typical duel is thus described by Judge Caton:^® 



"The battle was joined by a rush together like rams, their 

 faces bowed nearly to a level with the ground, when the clash 

 of horns could have been heard at a great distance; but they 

 did not again fall back to repeat the shock, as is usual with 

 rams, but the battle was continued by pushing, guarding, and 

 attempting to break each other's guard, and goading whenever 

 a chance could be got, which was very rare. It was a trial of 

 strength and endurance, assisted by skill in fencing and activity. 

 The contest lasted for two hours without the animals being 

 once separated, during which they fought over perhaps half 

 an acre of ground. Almost from the beginning, both fought 

 with their mouths open, for they do not protrude the tongue 

 prominently like the ox, when breathing through the mouth. 

 So evenly matched were they that both were nearly exhausted, 

 when one at last suddenly turned tail to and fled; his ad- 

 versary pursued him but a little way. I could not detect a 

 scratch upon either sufficient to scrape off the hair, and the 

 only punishment suffered was fatigue and a consciousness of 

 defeat by the vanquished." 



Still the affair must be considered a success, because it 

 answers its purpose — it decides what the combatants set out to 

 learn, namely, which is the better buck. 



DURA- The rut of the Whitetail buck seems to be of unusual 



THE RUT duration — commonly as long as two months. We cannot 

 suppose it to be the same with the does. Many observations 

 and inquiries lead me to conclude that the buck Whitetail is 

 usually seen with one doe, sometimes with two, rarely with 

 three, never more. It seems probable that the buck fore- 

 gathers with some suitable female as soon as possible; but 



®^ Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, p. 307. 



