56 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 

 Genus Odocoileus Rafinesque. 



Odocoileus virginianus (Boddert). 

 Virginia Deer. 



Plates 14 and 15. 



Length, 6 feet. Height at the shoulder, 3 feet. Length of 

 antler, 20 to 24 inches. Color, bright chestnut in summer with a 

 black band on the chin; throat, under parts and inside of legs, 

 white; tail, brownish above, white beneath. In winter the upper 

 parts are yellowish gray with white about the eye. Antlers curv- 

 ing outward and then upward ; there is a short upright spike near 

 the base, beyond which the beam gives off two upright branches 

 making three nearly equal prongs. 



The deer is an animal of the forests and open glades, once 

 abundant all over eastern America, it has become nearly or quite 

 exterminated in many sections through the clearing of the 

 country, and the greed of lawless hunters. Tolerance on the part 

 of the hunters and wise protective legislation may re-establish 

 these graceful animals, as has been recently proved in compara- 

 tively thickly settled sections of New England, 



The deer rut in the autumn, and the fawns, usually two, are 

 born in May or June. They are tawny colored little fellows 

 spotted with white, and lay concealed in the grass or fern beds 

 until the female comes to suckle them. In animals that I have 

 observed in deer parks this takes place after dark. When rutting 

 the bucks have fierce encounters, and sometimes their antlers be- 

 come firmly interlocked in which position they remain until they 

 succumb to starvation, being unable either to eat or drink. One 

 buck has several does under his protection, and in winter, when 

 the snow is deep, deer associate in small herds and tramp out 

 paths or "yards" in the thickets. They feed at different times of 

 the year on buds, leaves, grass, ferns, small herbs, berries, etc. 



The Virginia deer has been separated into two varieties, a 

 northern and southern form, and Mr. Rhoads includes both 

 among the mammals of New Jersey, allotting the southern 



