i6 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



start again. I will cite you some figures: In 

 1897, I was on the big trail here for nine days, 

 and I counted within a few of a thousand Deer. 

 In 1901 I was on the same trail for eighteen 

 days and I counted 228 Deer. In 1902, I was 

 out fourteen days, and counted fifty-two Deer." 

 The Mule Deer has a peculiar running gait — 

 a progression of stiffs-legged leaps, in which the 

 feet come down together to the ground then 

 bound oflf again like steel springs. But it can 

 run at astonishing speed for long distances. In 

 the chase it will tire out most doo^s and wolves. 



still met with in many localities. In the coast 

 range north of San Francisco it is almost 

 entirely replaced by the Columbia Black-tailed 

 Deer. In Oregon, \\'ashington and British 

 Columbia the Mule Deer is not so numerous as 

 in the Rockies further east. 



This Deer may produce two fawns at each 

 birth, but in past years its breeding has nowhere 

 near kept pace with the rate of killing, and it 

 seems doomed to extinction. 



The Mule Deer was one of the strange animals 

 noted by Audubon and his companions on their 



ijy permission of the New York Zoological Srn.ict\' 



MULE DEER BUCK 

 Showing the distinctive marking of the crown and muzzle of this species 



In the Rocky Mountains, where the true Black- 

 tailed Deer is not known, the Mule Deer is still 

 referred to as the Black-tailed. On the Pacific 

 Coast, where it is found on the same range as the 

 Columbia Black-tailed Deer, it is known by its 

 true name. 



The most natural home of the Mule Deer is in 

 the mountains, but before the occupation of the 

 country it frequented the Great Plains. West 

 of the Rocky Mountains this species of Deer is 



memorable journey up the Missouri river, in 

 1843. He says of his first sight of it: "On 

 winding along the banks, bordering a long and 

 wide prairie, intermingled with willow and other 

 small brushwood, we suddenly came in sight of 

 four Mule Deer which, after standing a moment 

 on the bank and looking at us, trotted leisurely 

 away, without appearing to be much alarmed. 

 After they had retired a few hundred yards, 

 the two largest, apparently males, elevated them- 



