COAT AND COLOR. 131 



perfectly uniform entirely across. Between the nostrils, these 

 hairs assume an ascending direction, and are of a light drab 

 color, as far up as the middle of the nostrils; above^this point 

 they grow a little longer and become a chocolate brown for three 

 inches, when they become of a lighter shade, but still the face is 

 brown up to the antlers. Below, for say three inches, posterior 

 to the light dun, or as far back as the angle of the mouth, it 

 may be fairly called black. Back of that it fades out to a dirty 

 yellowish white along the under side of the head. Ai^ound the 

 eyes the brown is of a deeper shade than the rest. No long 

 black hairs are found on the upper lip or nose of the Caribou, as 

 observed on the moose, but in their place are a few white hairs, 

 which show conspicuously on the dark ground. I found the same 

 markings on the eastern reindeer's face. 



The upper lip of our Elk is also covered with short hairs, ex- 

 cept for seven lines in front and the space between the nostrils, 

 which is naked, but a point of the coat above invades the upper 

 part of this naked space. The dividing space in front, on the 

 upper lip, for nine or ten lines above the mouth, is not entirely 

 naked, but is dotted over with tufts of very fine short hairs, 

 almost like fur. These tufts are less than a line in diameter, 

 and over a line apart. These have something the appearance of 

 the little tufts on many of the cacti family of plants, and consti- 

 tute really a very distinguishing characteristic of the species. 

 The hairs of the face are tawny in color, with a yellowish shade 

 around the muzzle, but growing darker above, the under lip 

 being lightest of all. 



These three large species, of which we have just spoken, we 

 see have the muzzle or upper lip either partially or entirely cov- 

 ered with hair ; but on the smallest of the three it is alone en- 

 tirely covered, while the next above in size is the least covered, 

 and the largest is intermediate. 



All of our species, inferior in size to those above considered, 

 and which in other respects constitute a separate division of the 

 Cervidse, have the upper lip and the nose as far up as the upper 

 part of the nostrils entirely naked, to about the same extent as 

 the ox. This naked portion, when the animal is in health, is 

 always moist and is cold to the touch, being the only part of the 

 animal where an appreciable perspiration is observed. The form 

 and relative extent of the naked portion is precisely alike in the 

 mule deer, the Columbia deer, the Virginia deer and the Aca- 

 pulco deer, and I may add the Ceylon deer ; except that in the 



