152 The Black-Tail Deer. 



A black-tail buck is one of the most noble-looking of 

 all deer. His branching and symmetrically curved antlers 

 are set on a small head, carried with beautiful poise by the 

 proud, massive neck. The body seems almost too heavy 

 for the slender legs, and yet the latter bear it as if they 

 were rods of springing steel. Every movement is full of 

 alert, fiery life and grace, and he steps as lightly as though 

 he hardly trod the earth. The large, sensitive ears are 

 thrown forward to catch the slightest sound ; and in the 

 buck they are not too conspicuous, though they are the 

 only parts of his frame which to any eye can be said to 

 take away from his beauty. They give the doe a some- 

 what mulish look ; at a distance, the head of a doe peering 

 out from among twigs looks like a great black V. To 

 me, however, even in the case of the doe, they seem to 

 set off and strengthen by contrast the delicate, finely- 

 moulded look of the head. Owing to these ears the 

 species is called in the books the Mule Deer, and every 

 now and then a plainsman will speak of it by this title. 

 But all plainsmen know it generally, and ninety-nine out 

 of a hundred know it only, as the Black-tail Deer ; and as 

 this is the title by which it is known among all who hunt 

 it or live near it, it should certainly be called by the same 

 name in the books. 



But though so grand and striking an object when 

 startled, or when excited, whether by curiosity or fear, 

 love or hate, a black-tail is nevertheless often very hard to 

 make out when standing motionless among the trees and 

 brushwood, or when lying down among the boulders. A 

 raw hand at hunting has no idea how hard it is to see a 



