The White-Tailed Deer 5 



In the fall it is replaced by a beautiful gray coat which 

 gradually grows longer and thicker as cold weather 

 comes on until in midwinter it is full and heavy, form- 

 ing an ample protection against the severest weather. 

 In spring this coat is more brownish in color and after 

 the long winter is apt to have a ragged and faded ap- 

 pearance, especially just before it is shed and followed 

 by the reddish summer coat. The fawns, which usually 

 are born in May or June, are reddish like the adults at 

 the same season, but are beautifully spotted with 

 white. Late in the fall when the first coat is shed, the 

 fawns lose their spots and become grayish. Two fawns 

 are commonly born at a time and rarely there are 

 three. Young does, as a rule, produce only one fawn 

 and the number varies somewhat in different parts of 

 the country. Male fawns follow their mother for the 

 first year and females often do so for two years. 



Like other members of the deer family, the White- 

 tail sheds and renews its horns annually. The does, 

 or females, never have horns, but the bucks grow a 

 new pair every year. The shedding takes place in late 

 winter or early spring and there is a short period at 

 this time, therefore, when there are no horns in either 

 sex. The mature horns, which are carried through the 

 winter, simply drop off and fall to the ground, leaving 

 only the slight bony knob or pedicel from which they 

 grew. Almost immediately new horns begin to grow, 

 appearing at first as soft prominences covered with 

 the peculiar fuzzy skin which is known as the "vel- 

 vet." They rapidly elongate and send out branches 

 which are nourished by a copious supply of blood flow- 

 ing under the protecting velvet. In a few months their 

 growth is practically completed and except for their 

 velvet covering and the club-shaped tips, which harden 

 last, they have much the appearance of mature antlers. 

 Early in the fall, usually in September, the bucks rub 

 their antlers against trees and bushes and the velvet 



[5] 



