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CERVUS VIRGINIANUS, (Bodd.'Ert), (Brooke.) 



THE VIRGINIA DEER. 



Specific Character. — Horns with the branches all from the posterior edge. 

 Ears scarcely more than half the length of the tail. Gland of hind leg not one- 

 eighth the distance between the articulating surfaces of the bone. Tail depressed, 

 hairy beneath ; dark brown near the tip, but encircled by white on sides and tip ; 

 entirely white beneath. Winter coat, pale grayish chestnut, faintly annulated ; 

 summer, bright uniform rufous. 



Chin with a traverse band of black ; and behind this, one of the colour of the 

 sides of the head. 



Habitat. — (Janada to Panama, all Northern Ontario. 



Average Size. — Equal to that of a large calf. 



Average Weight. — 100 to 200 pounds. 



Average Height. — 4 feet. 



Average Length. — 5 feet. 



Value of Skin in the Raiu. — 20c. per pound. 



The Virginia deer, considering that it is a species so widely distributed, has 

 but few appellations. In some parts it is known as the red or Virginia deer, and 

 in others as the white tail. 



In summer the coat is bright red, but as autumn approaches the colour deepens 

 and gets more gray, until in October it is almost a mouse colour, and the deer is then 

 said to be in the blue. 



The head is long, tapering and pointed, and the eyes are large and lustrous, 

 and in colour a bluish black. 



The legs are slender but possessed of enormous muscular strength. 



The body is moderately stout and flexible. 



The male is furnished with horns which are symmetrical and graceful, although 

 not large, and bend foi"ward, whilst the points are directed downward They are 

 shed yearly, only to be renewed in ampler proportions. In the first year the horns 

 are simply a corneous growth covered with short hairy skin. In the second year 

 small straight horns appear. In the third year the buck has two antlers ; in the 

 fourth, three ; in the fifth, four ; in the sixth, five ; after this the antlers do not 

 always increase in number, although six or seven are sometimes seen on each side. 



The doe is considerably smaller than the buck and has no horns. 



The rutting season occurs in October and November, and the young are born 

 in May or June. As a general rule two fawns are produced at a birth. 



The fawns are at first of a red colour, spotted along the sides with white, but 

 in the autumn of the first year the spots disappear. 



The average length of the Virginia deer is five feet. 



The food of the deer consists of green shrubs, leaves, ferns, bark and grass ; 

 an abundance of the latter being indispensable. 



The favourite feeding time is at sunset, when the deer makes first for the water, 

 and then having quenched its thirst commences to browse or graze. 



