THE GLANDS. 261 



this, beside the diminished size of the animal, is the only pe- 

 culiarity I have been able to discover in the animals found in the 

 far south. On the very large buck which I killed in Wisconsin, 

 in 1876, the metatarsal gland vs^as one inch and six lines long, 

 Avhich, however, was no larger proportionately than is observed on 

 animals of the ordinary size. The smallest I have ever found on 

 on adult was on a small female and was six lines long. In all, 

 both wild and in parks, from one ocean to the other, in the mid- 

 dle States and north of them, I have found a wonderful uniformity 

 in the size of this gland, varying, of course, with the size of the 

 animal. 



Immediately around the naked space is a band of white hairs, 

 which occupies a space on the skin about two lines broad, al- 

 though from their being longer than those around them they 

 appear to occupy a greater space. Immediately outside this 

 white band there is usually a very narrow dark border, shading 

 down to the prevailing color of the balance of the leg, which is 

 more generally of a fawn color, though there is great variation in 

 the color of the leg of the Common Deer, even more than on 

 other parts of the body. Sometimes the band surrounding the 

 white hairs is fairly black with the outer border adjoining the 

 rufous colored and shorter hairs well defined. 



On the specimens found in the western mountainous regions 

 and in the high northern latitudes — where they are called the 

 white-tailed or the long-tailed deer, and have been doubtfully 

 named (7. leucurus — this dark border is wanting, and this is the 

 only difference I can find in and about this gland from tlie com- 

 mon variety here. In location, formation, size, and covering, 

 they are precisely alike, save only this small pencil of deeply 

 colored hairs surrounding the white tuft, which would never be 

 noticed by the casual observer, and which would be unworthy 

 the attention of the most critical inquirer, were it not for their 

 constant presence and exact uniformity, except as to the depth of 

 the color on nearly every specimen found east of the Rocky 

 Mountain slope and south of latitude forty-three degrees north. 



On specimens from the far north and west, the white portions 

 of the animal are appreciably more extensive than on specimens 

 found here, as we have seen, when speaking of the coat and 

 color ; and on one specimen in my collection from the far north- 

 west, not only all the hairs in the region of this gland, but the 

 whole leg, including the hock, is white, with a few red hairs in- 

 terspersed along the lower front part. I cannot think that the 



