Mule-Deer 357 



Mr. E. Cameron's account in Laud cuui IFater, to which allusion has 

 been already made. After mentioning that mule-deer stags are occasion- 

 ally met with which never grow antlers, and that in tully developed 

 animals in Montana these appendages are clear of the velvet by the 

 end of October and are shed the next March, the author proceeds as 

 follows : — 



" Another peculiarity of mule-deer is their gait — a succession of stiff- 

 legged bounds which carry them over the ground at a surprisingly rapid 

 pace. When mule-deer relinquish this gait for an even gallop it is a 

 sure sign that they are becoming exhausted. 



" I believe them to be among the swiftest of deer, and that the 

 more vigorous can accomplish a mile in one minute and fifty-seven 

 seconds ; my opinion being based on a calculation that they cover fifteen 

 yards a second in three jumps of five yards each, when badly scared, and 

 on the tact that greyhounds seldom catch them even on ground favourable 

 to the dogs. During the early tall the old heavy bucks, when laden with 

 fat, become more short-winded, and in October 1892 a cowboy, named 

 Wright, of the Hogeye ranch on Spring Creek, surprised a large buck 

 in the open, which he roped (lassoed) round the antlers after a run of half 

 a mile. A comrade, Marrowquin, on a slower horse was close up, and 

 soon had his rope fast to the hind-legs of the buck, which was stretched out 

 helpless between the two horses. 



" The cowboys, after ear-marking the deer, allowed it to escape, and it 

 was shot near my ranch, where I saw it on 6th December 1895. The 

 running-down of the buck was considered a great feat, much talked of 

 at the time ; but such a capture is not likely to occur again, incessant 

 persecution having rendered the deer so shy that they only venture on 

 to the open plains at night. 



" Mule-deer, when suddenly started, have an unfailing habit of stopping 

 to look back at the cause of alarm ; and although this pause is too momentary 



