DEER 237 



of the year, is much darker, being grayish brown ("blue," in the hunter's 

 language), and composed of longer, much more numerous, and slightly 

 crinkled hairs. The greater number and length of the hairs and their 

 irregular form are probably for the purpose of furnishing a greater number 

 of discontinuous air spaces in the coat, which help to keep the animals 

 warm during the cold of winter. 



The ground color of the coat of a newborn f aw^n is reddish brown heavily 

 marked with large (i/^ inch) white spots. The original brilliant contrast 

 of this pattern persists only a short time, as the spots soon become dulled 

 and finally disappear. Such evidence as we have indicates that this change 

 is accomplished by Avear and also by the appearance of numerous long 

 reddish hairs. Thus by mid-August the fawn is reddish brown, similar 

 in color to the summer coat of its parents. This in turn gives way in 

 October to the regular gray winter coat. The hair of all these pelages is 

 much softer, and in the first winter coat less crinkled, than is that of the 

 adults. 



Mule Deer have three gaits, all of them stiff-legged. When foraging 

 or moving quietly along they walk with a peculiarly individual movement 

 of the legs, each foot being lifted and set vertically down. This, combined 

 with the very small size of the hoofs, results in a surprisingly quiet tread. 

 In fact we are led to the belief that the smallness of the hoof is an adap- 

 tation in the direction of quiet movement. The second gait is a stiff-legged 

 trot, in which the feet move alternately ; and the third is a gallop, or 

 "peg-legged lope," in which the fore and hind feet move in pairs simul- 

 taneously. This last is the gait which is used when the animals are beating 

 a hurried retreat after being thoroughly frightened, and the speed which 

 they make over short distances is surprising. This bounding gait serves 

 two further purposes — to permit the animal to clear the brush in which 

 it characteristically lives, and, with each upward leap of the animal, to 

 enable it to see above the brush and thus to extend considerably its field 

 of vision. Does, especially when carrying young, are said to lope with 

 an easier carriage of the body than the bucks. 



Every adult male deer normally possesses antlers and these are used 

 for display and combat during the mating season. These are solid bony 

 structures borne on the skull, grown and shed each year, and entirely 

 different in form and origin from the permanent 'hollow' horns of cattle 

 and sheep. The antlers begin to grow out in early spring and when first 

 in evidence are nothing more than short knobs on top of the head between 

 and a little above the eyes. While growing they are covered with a thick 

 densely haired skin called 'velvet,' and this skin is richly supplied with 

 blood vessels w^iich serve to bring the materials necessary for growth. 

 While growing, the antlers are very sensitive to touch and the deer are then 



