CERVID.E 49 



to between the legs, dull white. Suimiicr pelage; yellowish 

 brown to reddish brown. Young; brownish yellow more or less 

 regularly spotted with dull white. 



Length of male about 1575 mm. (62 inches) ; tail vertebrae 

 185 (7.25) ; hind foot 475 (18.65) J ear from crown 240 (9.50). 

 Length of female about 1450 (57); tail vertebrc-e 175 (6.90); 

 hind foot 445 (17.50) ; ear 225 (8.85). 



(Note: the length of the hind foot is the distance from the 

 point of the longest toe to the extremity of wdiat is popularly 

 called the "knee" which is really the true heel. Ungulates walk 

 on the ends of their toes). 



Type locality, upper Missouri River. 



The Mule Deer ranges over a large part of the United States, 

 from northern Arizona to British America, and from the great 

 plains to the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. In the 

 southern part of this range tlie true Mule Deer blends with the 

 two succeeding subspecies. It is moderately common on the 

 eastern slope oi the northern part of the Sierra Nevada. It pre- 

 fers the foothills of mountain ranges and broken ground in plains,, 

 but is also found in' mountains. The gait of the Mule Deer is 

 less graceful than that of the Virginia Deer. The run is a series 

 of high bounds, rapid but too tiresome to be sustained long. 



The Mule Deer is easily distinguished from the Black-tailed 

 Deer and Virginia Deer and its western forms by the much 

 smaller tail, which is naked part way down on the under side and 

 has the terminal third black and the remainder white. The white 

 hairs wear away easily and frequently the middle of the tail is 

 very slender. The metatarsal gland is the longest found on any 

 North American deer. The bare strip is easily seen by parting 

 the hairs over it, these hairs being longer than those of the 

 remainder of that side of the leg. 



The antlers are different from those of the white-tailed 

 group of deer in one respect ; those of the latter species have an 

 •indeterminate number of tines, aged bucks having numerous 

 tines, though these are on'ly in a general way an index of his 



