COAT AND COLOR. 125 



slight protecfcion against the flies and mosquitoes, which so fre- 

 quently infest the native ranges of these animals. The summer 

 coat is longest and most dense on the Columbia deer, and so 

 affords the best protection against insects, though it may be too 

 warm for comfort on a hot day. 



The great objective point for the flies and mosquitoes, is the 

 face, from the eyes to the nose. If there is a fly in the forest he 

 will be sure to be found on tlie deer's face, which after a while 

 seems to become quite insensible, for I have often observed them 

 quite happy taking corn from my liand while the face was half 

 covered with bloated mosquitoes. The insects, however, do not 

 confine themselves to this favorite locality, but attack every vul- 

 nerable point where the hair is thin and short. 



This sunimer coat is worn but three months or less. By 

 August it begins to disappear, and by September is entirely re- 

 placed by a new garb. This at first is always fine and short, 

 but the hairs grow rapidly in length and diameter, till by winter 

 they form a dense mass, which bids defiance to the bleakest 

 winds and the coldest storms. 



For some years after I had commenced my observations I 

 believed that our Elk had but one pelage during the year, and so 

 was an exception to the general rule which governs this genus. 

 One day in September, long after I had publicly announced this 

 as a fact to a scientific body, I was startled to observe on the 

 side of an Elk a slight difference in the color between the upper 

 and the lower portions of the side, although the line of demarca- 

 tion was not well defined. I at once suspected that I had fallen 

 into an error. I continued my observations, long and anxiously 

 scrutinizing every part of each individual in the band, which I 

 could induce to come sufficiently near for the purpose. At last 

 it became perfectly clear that I had been in error. The summer 

 coats were disappearing and were being replaced by the new coats, 

 but the new were in length and color so nearly like the old, and 

 the process was so gradual that it had been hitherto overlooked, 

 although it had often been the subject of examination. The 

 truth is I had not known Jwtv to examine for it, for it had not 

 occurred to me that the old and the new could be so nearly alike, 

 and that the new hairs could spring up among the old ones so 

 gradually, and be so well calculated to elude the scrutiny of the 

 observer. After I learned how to examine and compi-ehended the 

 mode of the change, the evidence of the truth rapidly accumu- 

 lated, till finally the whole process appeared perfectly plain. I 



