66 Deer and Antelope of North America 



the treeless plains. Yet in the Alleghanies and 

 the Adirondacks, at certain seasons especially, 

 and in some places at all seasons, it dwells high 

 among the densely wooded mountains, wandering 

 over their crests and sheer sides, and through the 

 deep ravines; while in the old days there were 

 parts of Texas and the Indian Territory where it 

 was found in great herds far out on the prairie. 

 Moreover, the peculiar nature of its chosen habi- 

 tat, while generally enabling it to resist the on- 

 slaught of man longer than any of its fellows, 

 sometimes exposes it to speedy extermination. 

 To the westward of the rich bottom-lands and 

 low prairies of the Mississippi Valley proper, when 

 the dry plains country is reached, the natural 

 conditions are much less favorable for whitetail 

 than for other big game. The black bear, which 

 in the East has almost precisely the same habitat 

 as the whitetail, disappears entirely on the great 

 plains, and reappears in the Rockies in regions 

 which the whitetail does not reach. All over the 

 great plains, into the foot-hills of the Rockies, the 

 whitetail is found, but only in the thick timber of 

 the river bottoms. Throughout the regions of 

 the Upper Missouri and Upper Platte, the Big 

 Horn, Powder, Yellowstone, and Cheyenne, over 

 all of which I have hunted, the whitetail lives 

 among the cottonwood groves and dense brush 

 growth that fringe the river beds and here and 



