130 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



of the month all the young except the very late ones are 

 weaned and appear in the unspotted blue coat. They con- 

 tinue with the mother, however, and profit daily by her guidance 

 and protection. 



On September 28 I saw one in full blue coat, wandering 

 alone and bleating piteously, announcing to all who heard 

 that *' here was a lost fawn" — an action not without its dangers, 

 for a Lynx or Coyote was as likely to hear as the mother of the 

 stray, and would understand the situation just as perfectly. 



THE So far as known, the buck takes no interest in the fawns, 



FATHER 



that is, he lives up to the rule of polygamous animals by ignor- 

 ing the mating tie as soon as the season of its grosser pleasures 

 is over. I do not, however, believe at all the notion that the 

 buck makes a practice of killing the fawns. The thing is im- 

 possible on the face of it. This would indeed be *' race suicide." 

 There are numberless cases of bucks killing fawns, but 

 not, I think, as deliberate murders. It is rather the result of 

 the impatient blow or thrust of a strong Deer at another that 

 gets in its way, only in this case the second one was so weak 

 that the result was fatal. 



THE RUT The mating season of the Mule-deer is at about the same 



time as that of the Whitetail, that is, November is their Moon 

 of Madness. But it may last until late in December. On 

 December 24, 1884, at Carberry, I saw a pair of this species 

 in the full ardour of their time. 



E. Carter, of Breckenridge, Col., tells me that once in the 



autumn he saw two large buck Blacktail and a doe coming over 



a ridge; a long way behind was a small buck. The two big 



^ bucks, after many threats, closed in for a fight, and while so 



engaged the little buck secured the doe. 



Was this a failure of the survival of the fittest, or was it 

 proof of the supremacy of mind over matter ? 

 FATALi- Fatalities seem to be very rare as a consequence of these 



TIES 



RARE battles, and all that I can find recorded are the result of inter- 

 locked antlers. The antlers themselves are developed along 



