The Moose, Caribou, and Small Deer. 135 



wholesale creation of new and hitherto unheard of species Mr. 

 Lydekker redeems with a vengeance his assertion that " zoological 

 nomenclature is undergoing a complete revolution." 



But, pace new names, three old-established species of the smaller 

 deer, as Caton enumerated them, and no more, inhabit, I am con- 

 vinced, North America. Of these three the mule deer is by far the 

 handsomest, though not approaching the wapiti in size. The antlers, 

 with their peculiar backward sweep of the main beam, throw out 

 occasionally a great number of tines. The largest of the great 



THE AUTHOR'S 26-riNED MULE-DEER HEAD. 



number I have killed had twenty-six tines, but I believe Mr. 

 Theodore Roosevelt has one bearing the extraordinary number 

 of thirty-five, while Mr. Moreton Frewen has one with twenty-nine. 

 I do not know, however, whether they were killed by the 

 present owners. 



The autumn coat resembles the mouse-grey of a roebuck's 

 winter coat. They love timber, and are hard to see, a fact of 

 which they are perfectly well aware. When they think one will 

 pass them undetected, they will stand thirty or forty yards off, 

 staring at one with the greatest composure. But at the slightest 



