Sitka Blacktail 361 



and black ; a black stripe above each eye meets its fellow on the forehead, 

 and there is a black patch behind the chin, the face being grey. The chin, 

 the upper part of the throat, and the abdoTnen, as well as the under side of 

 the tail and the inner side of the upper portion of the limbs, are white. 

 The chest is sooty, but the under-parts in the neighbourhood of the fore- 

 legs are mottled like the back, the legs being dark cinnamon-colour. The 

 base of the black upper surface of the tail gradually shades off into the 

 mottled hue of the back. In summer the general colour of the coat is red 

 or reddish yellow. 



The blacktail resembles the mule-deer in its habit of starting olT when 

 alarmed in a series of long bounds. It is, however, a much more forest- 

 haunting form ; and, except in the pairing-season, which takes place in 

 October, when the old stags retire to higher ground, it is extremely partial 

 to marshy and swampy districts, taking to the water with as much readiness 

 as the whitetail. The spotted tawns, ot which there are usually two at 

 a birth, are dropped in May. 



THE SITKA BLACKTAIL 



{Md3'(ima crjlumh'mna sitke/isis) 



The black-tailed deer of Sitka Island, Alaska, has been described 

 by Dr. Merriam ^ as a distinct local race on account of its inferior stature 

 and relatively smaller ears. The general colour of the upper-parts, as well 

 as of the under-parts in tront, is fulvous in the summer dress, the face being 

 grizzled grey, with a dusky patch extending from the eyes midway to the 

 nose. The long hair covering the tarsal gland on the inner side of the 

 hock is tawny with a border of black. 



' Proc. Biol, Soc. IVashington, vol. xii. p. loo (i 

 3 A 



