238 A COURSE ON ZOOLOGY. 



North America. It is smaller than the European red- 

 deer, but is more graceful in form ; its height at the 

 shoulders is about three feet. Its color is reddish brown 

 in summer, blue in autumn, and dull brown in winter, 

 the under parts and internal surfaces of the legs being 

 white. The antlers, after curving backward, spring 

 forward, their tips being close together above the nose. 



FIG. 171. 



FALLOW-DEER (Dama vulgaris). 



The coats of the fawns are spotted or even striped with 

 white. The flesh of this deer is exceedingly palatable. 



The reindeer, called caribou in the United States, is 

 larger than the Virginia deer, and hardly as large as the 

 stag or elk, but it is more heavily built ; its legs are short 

 and heavy and its hoofs broad, giving it a firm footing 

 as it runs over the snow. The color is a dark grayish 

 brown. In Lapland the reindeer has been domesticated. 

 It occurs in the Northeastern United States and Canada 

 and in the northern parts of Europe and Asia. 



