112 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



USE TO There is no probability that the Whitetail will ever serve 



man in any domestic capacity, but it will always have a value 

 by reason of its singular adaptability and gifts. It is the only 

 one of our Deer that can live contentedly and unsuspectedly in 

 a hundred acres of thicket. It is the only one that can sit 

 unconcernedly all day long while factory whistles and bells are 

 sounding around it, and yet distinguish at once the sinister 

 twig-snap that tells of some prowling foe, as far away, perhaps, 

 as the other noises. It is the only one that, hearing a hostile 

 footfall, will sneak around to wind the cause, study its trail, 

 and then glide, cat-like, through the brush to a further haven, 

 without even trying to see the foe who thus gets no chance for 

 a shot. It is the least migratory, the least polygamous, the least 

 roving, as well as the swiftest, keenest, shyest, wisest, most 

 prolific, and most successful of our Deer. It is the only one 

 that has added to its range; that, in the North and West, has 

 actually accompanied the settler into the woods; that has 

 followed afar into newly opened parts of New England and 

 Canada; that has fitted its map to man's, and that can hold 

 its own on the frontier. 



I shall always remember a scene at a mining-camp in 

 Gilpin County, Col., some years ago. The Whitetailed Deer 

 was known to have come into the region within a few years, 

 and the Mule Blacktail was growing scarce. A man came in 

 and said, as he stamped ofif the snow: "I just scared up a 

 couple of Deer on the ridge." 



An old hunter there became interested at once; he was 

 minded to go, and reached for his gun. But, stopping, he said: 

 ''Whitetail or Blacktail.?" 



"Whitetail," was the reply. 



"That settles it. A Blacktail I could get, but a scared 

 Whitetail knows too much for me." 



He sat down again and resumed his pipe. 



The Whitetail is the American Deer of the past and the 

 American Deer of the future. I have no doubt that whatever 

 other species drop out of the hard fight, the Whitetail will 



