DEER FAMILY 



17 



selves on their liind legs and pawed each other 

 in the manner of the horse. They occasionally 

 stopped for a moment, then trotted off again, 

 appearing and disappearing from time to time, 

 when becoming suddenly alarmed they bounded 

 off at a swift pace until out of sight. They did 

 not trot or run as irregularly as our Virginia 

 Deer, and they appeared at a distance darker 

 in color." 



Mr. A. G. W'allihan says of this species: " For 

 me, at least, there is a charm about the Mule 



lights in the most charming bits of country to be 

 found. He will jump up from the tall weeds and 

 grass among the aspens, so close as to startle you 

 as you ride through them, or will leap into view 

 from the shade of a deep washout far in the 

 desert, where he finds in the feed and surround- 

 ings something to suit his taste. He is crafty 

 also, for if he tb.inks he is hidden I have known 

 him to lie in thick bush until almost kicked out, 

 after all sorts of experiments to drive him out 

 have failed. He has perhaps the keenest scent 



'''i^;'1?-^ir-><r -'^ 



i 



Photograph by Mrs. Howard A. Colby 



AN EARLY BREAKFAST 



White-tailed Deer, on the shore of Umbazookakus Lake, Maine. Time exposure with a telephoto lens, at 



five o'clock, on an August morning 



Deer that no other game possesses. Barring 

 the Bighorn, their meat is the best, their hide tans 

 into the best buckskin, and you turn from the 

 large Elk or the agile Antelope to the graceful 

 beauty of the Mule Deer buck, and find there 

 the greatest satisfaction. The head of the Big- 

 horn is a finer trophy, no doubt, and you are led 

 To grand scenery in the pursuit of him, but it is 

 heart-breaking work. Where you find the Mule 

 Deer you will find other pleasures, for he de- 



and the best hearing of all the Deer tribe, btit 

 cannot see as well as the Antelope, for I have 

 stood within ten or twenty feet of several pass- 

 ing bands, which failed to distinguish me from 

 a stump or rock. Antelope will approach very 

 close occasionally, out of pure inquisitiveness, 

 but never a Deer. If anything moves, a Deer 

 sees it instantly, but he cannot tell the nature of 

 a still object. This often places him at a decided 

 disadvantage."' 



