94 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



of long black hairs ; naked on the under side. Metatarsal gland very 

 large and long. Tarsal gland, present. Hoofs black. No white hairs 

 about the feet or the metatarsal gland. A white section opposite and 

 below the tail. 



There are two distinct varieties of this deer in the United 

 States and probably a third in Mexico. I shall first treat of the 

 most abundant, and the most widely distributed variety. 



Cervus maceotis, Var. 3Ionta7nis. 



This d,eer was first discovered by Lewis and Clark, on the 18th 

 of September, 1804, in latitude 42°, on the Missouri River, who 

 then called it Black-tailed Deer. By this name they often men- 

 tion it, until the 31st of May, 1805, after they had discovered 

 the Columbia black-tailed deer, when Captain Clark, on enu- 

 merating the animals found on the Columbia River below the 

 falls, calls it the Mule Deer. By that name they ever after iden- 

 tify it, except in a single instance. On their return in 1806, 

 near where they first met it, they captured their last specimen, 

 and called it Mnle Deer. The excessive development of the ears 

 well justified them in the name they gave it. In the Rocky 

 Mountains, where the true black-tailed deer is not known, it is 

 still called the Blaclc-tailed Deer. On the Pacific Coast, where 

 it ranges with the Columbia black-tailed deer, it is known by its 

 true name. Mule Beer, by which designation it is also recognized 

 by naturalists. The original habitat of this deer has not been 

 very much restricted since its first discovery, though it has de- 

 serted or become scarce on the Missouri River, and other hunted 

 localities where the white man has too much disturbed its seclu- 

 sion. Its most natural home is in the mountains, but it is found 

 on the great plains hundreds of miles east of them, where it most 

 affects the broken and arboreous borders of the streams. 



West of the Rocky Mountains this species of deer is met with 

 almost everywhere. In the coast range north of San Francisco 

 it is almost entirely replaced by the Columbia black-tailed deer, 

 and south of that point this variety entirely gives place to the 

 California variety. In Oregon, Washington Territory, and in 

 British Columbia, the Mule Deer is met with, but not so abun- 

 dantly as in the mountains further east. 



In the face of civilization they maintain their ground better 

 than the wapiti deer. In flight they do not run like the com- 

 mon deer but bound along, all the feet leaving and striking the 

 ground together. For a short distance their flight is rapid but 



