296 Deer and Antelope of North America 



measurements of the calves with that of the three- 

 year-old bull and again with the adults, it is plain 

 the animal does not grow so fast after it leaves 

 its mother, and that the rapidity of growth is de- 

 creased as it nears maturity. This would vary 

 with different animals, and there are individual 

 animals which attain a size perhaps much greater 

 than that of their neighbors, but my experience 

 teaches me that adult animals of any given species 

 are very uniform in size, much more than they 

 really look to be. The tape line in the hands of 

 one who knows how to use it reduces the size of 

 what seems to be an especially large individual 

 to a place very near that of its relatives. The 

 above table shows how very uniform are the three 

 adult males from the Kenai Peninsula. It is the 

 result I have also found in many other species. 

 The general contour of the surface anatomy of 

 animals varies so exceedingly as to influence their 

 appearance and often greatly deceive one concern- 

 ing the animal's real size. I have looked at ani- 

 mals and remarked before measuring that they 

 were very large or very small, only to find their 

 actual size, when the tape line was applied, to 

 vary very slightly from the uniform size of adults 

 of the species. One who did not understand 

 measuring animals might have made any of the 

 above adult moose twelve inches taller, and have 

 really thought he was making an honest measure- 



