Western Whitetail 343 



under the plough are rapidly becoming afforested, and such districts afford 

 covert tor this deer, and tend to bring it back to tracts oi country from 

 which it had more or less completely disappeared. Where any reasonable 

 amount of protection is accorded to it, the whitetail not only holds its 

 own but tends to increase in numbers. The tact that these deer, in a state 

 of semi-domestication, continue to flourish in the summer pleasure resorts 

 of Long Island, as well as in the much -frequented districts of the 

 Adirondacks, is of itself sufficient testimony to the adaptability of the 

 species. 



As a very rare abnormality whitetail hinds occasionally develop antlers, 

 the head shown in Fig. 72 being an unusually fine example of this feature. 



The most striking trait of the white-tailed deer is its invariable habit 

 of elevating its tail when starting off so as to show the white under-surface. 

 This, with the white of the buttocks, forms a large lozenge-shaped blaze, 

 quite as conspicuous as the expanded rump-patch of the sikas, and equally 

 well adapted to indicate to the laggards the line of flight taken by the 

 other members of the herd. The fawns of the Virginian whitetail are 

 usually spotted. 



THE WESTERN WHITETAIL 



[Mazivna americana iiiacri/ra) 



This race, which inhabits the Western United States from Kansas, 

 Nebraska, and Dakota westward to California, Oregon, and Washington, 

 differs from the typical representative of the species chiefly by its inferior 

 stature and paler coloration. According to Dr. D. G. Elliot, its antlers 

 are very like those of the Virginian race, but display a marked tendency to 

 the development of three posterior tines, and in aged individuals are prone 



