98 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



darker than those of our common deer. Their bodies, too, are 

 deeper, their legs shorter, and their eyes larger. The branches 

 of the horns are similar, but the upper part of the tail is black 

 from the root to the end, and they do not leap, but jump like a 

 sheep frightened." 



In their general description of the fauna observed during their 

 expedition (vol. ii., p. 209), they enumerate the Cervidaj thus : 

 '"'■ The common red deer, the black-tailed fallow deer, the mule 

 deer, and the elk." They hunted it for the larder, but did not 

 admire its flesh, pronouncing it dry and hard. From this we 

 may infer that the deer were then in bad condition, for subse- 

 quent observations prove that the venison is of good quality. It 

 is a cautious and wary animal in the forest, which it much affects, 

 requiring all the skill and caution of the practiced hunter to se- 

 cure success in its pursuit. The most extraordinary fact in con- 

 nection with this deer is the extremely narrow limits of its range, 

 which is within a narrow belt along the Pacific coast of America, 

 in the temperate zone. In many parts of this district it is the 

 most abundant deer to be met with. Why it has never wandered 

 beyond these bounds, it is hard to say. It has never even reached 

 the base of the Rocky Mountains, except possibly in the extreme 

 northern part of its range. The mountain barriers could not 

 restrain it ; for it ranges high up on the Sierra Nevada, and is 

 found at the eastern slope of that range. If the deserts at the 

 south would deter it from an eastern migration, the valleys of the 

 streams heading in the Rocky Mountains, and emptying into the 

 Columbia River, invited it to follow their banks, and would have 

 led it to the summit of the range, and to practicable passes. The 

 mule deer, which associates with it on the coast, although less 

 enterprising than our common deer, the elk, or the moose, has 

 occupied the entire range of the Rocky Mountains, and all the 

 habitable parts of the desert country west of it, and also extends 

 its range far down the plains which lie eastward, and formerly 

 reached the Missouri River as far down as the Big Sioux, if not 

 the mouth of the Platte. In my grounds they have endured the 

 change of climate, food, and habit better than the mule deer, if 

 there be any difference, so that they were not deterred from 

 extending their range further eastward by the rigors of the sea- 

 S6)n any more than their larger neighbors. Still some conditions 

 exist which I am unable to point out, which seem to confine 

 them to that circumscribed country, beyond which it is impos- 

 sible for them to pass. An imaginary line which becomes quite 



