THE PRONG-BUCK. 285 
well adapted to catch the faintest sound. The 
hair is coarse, crimped or wavy; growing in a 
tuft on the forehead, and during summer in a 
mane on the neck and back of the male. 
About the posterior third of the back is an 
opening like the tear-gland in the face of a deer, 
from which a musky-smelling secretion continu- 
ally oozes. The animal has also the power of 
erecting the hair of the white patches on its rump, 
as a peacock spreads its tail, or a wolf bristles its 
back. This power of elevating, or apparently © 
puffing-out, these snowy markings, adds immensely 
to the general beauty of the prong-buck. When 
wooing, or striving to make the most favourable 
impression on his harem of does, or when in 
defence of his wives he rushes at some intrusive 
rival, the snowy round patches are ‘ruffed’ to 
treble their natural size. 
The geographical distribution of the prong- 
buck is rather extensive. North it is found as 
far as the northern branches of the Saskatchewan, 
53° N. lat. It ranges over all the plains from the 
Missouri to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Moun- 
tains; southerly into Mexico, as far as the mouth 
of the Rio Grande; through Oregon and Cali- 
fornia, and into Washington Territory, along the 
banks of the Columbia, to the Spokan river. 
