224 



THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



Generally the antler of the Virginia Deer arises from the pedi- 

 cel in the facial line spreading more or less to the basal snag. 

 From that point it commences to curve upward and forward, and 

 then downward and inward, till the extremities of the beams re- 

 motely approach each other. This enables the animal by bow- 

 ing his head in battle, as is his habit, to present the tines to the 

 adversary in front. When two meet in the shock of battle thus 

 armed, these antlers form so complete a shield that I have never 

 known a point to reach an adversary, as will be seen when we 



24. Acapuico Deer. 25 and 26, Common Deer. 



come to describe their mode of warfare. The basal snng starts 

 about two inches above the burr and rises to the height of from 

 two to five inches at an angle of from fifteen to thirty degrees to 

 the beam. This snag is usually more covered with tubercles 

 than the tines above, and on very large specimens from aged ani- 

 mals is sometimes bifurcated, and sometimes flattened as in Fig. 

 26 ; sometimes a small supplemental snag occurs near the base, 

 and I have occasionally observed one or more of the tubercles 

 of the burr extend to snags an inch long. Usually from one to 

 half a dozen tines occur on each antler, the lower ones being the 

 longest and largest ; on very large specimens some of these tines 

 may produce snags, or a snag may arise from the beam at about 

 the same point where a tine occurs. On the smaller specimens, 

 the tines usually correspond on the two antlers on the same head, 

 but as the animal grows older and the antlers larger this is less 

 likely to be the case, though if one antler has an extraordinary 



