1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 87 



so long as that of the whitetail, and much wider than that of the mule deer, 

 whole upper surface black, whole lower surface white; ears large; skull 

 relatively short and wide, with deep lachrymal pits and light molar teeth. 

 Winter pelage (September to June), rich brownish gray, darker or blacker 

 along median line of back from nose to tail; full top of tail, forehead, nose, 

 and brisket black or blackish; legs tawny, lower surface of tail, inside of 

 ears, and edges of lips white; back of belly, inside of front legs, and chin 

 whitish. Summer pelage: Body rich tawny, top of tail, dorsal line, forehead, 

 and nose blackish ; back of belly, inside of legs, throat, and lips white. Fawns 

 thickly spotted with white over dark tawny upper parts. 



Measurements. Of adult male: Total length, 1,640 mm; tail, 180; hind 

 foot, 450. Ear (dry), inside, 160, outside, from base to tip, 180. Skull: Basal 

 length, 233; orbital width, 128; length of molar series, 71. Weight of large 

 bucks about 200 pounds, but there are records of 200 and 219 pounds dressed. 



Distribution and habitat. The Columbian blacktails inhabit the 

 region from the summit of the Cascade and northern Sierra Nevada 

 Mountains west to the Pacific (fig. 11). In Oregon, they occupy also 

 most of the eastern slope of the Cascade Range to its timbered base, 

 their range meeting, but rarely overlapping, that of the Rocky 

 Mountain mule deer. They are peculiarly animals of the dense forest 

 and chaparral country of both mountains and lowlands, but they 

 do not extend into the open desert country. Formerly they were 

 abundant over most of their range, and they have held their own 

 better, perhaps, than any other species of western deer. In many 

 parts of western Oregon, they are still abundant, and with proper 

 protection can be maintained in large numbers wherever the country 

 is not thickly settled. The dense forests and almost impenetrable 

 thickets which they inhabit protect them not only from natural ene- 

 mies but to a great extent from excessive hunting. 



Abundance. In former days, from the time of the early explora- 

 tions in Oregon Lewis and Clark in 1805 and 1806, Henry Thomp- 

 son in 1813, Franchere in 1814, David Douglas in 1825, Nathaniel J. 

 Wyeth in 1832, Townsend in 1839, Wilkes and Peale in 1848, and 

 others up to the beginning of the Biological Survey field work of 

 1888, there seems to have been no mention of excessive abundance 

 of deer in western Oregon. Such statements as "observed ", " speci- 

 men obtained ", " plenty of deer ", " a few observed ", " in great 

 abundance (Franchere)", "considerable deer found here", "deer 

 abound (Wyeth)", would seem to indicate no greater numbers locally 

 than during recent years. The greater abundance of wolves, moun- 

 tain lions, and other predatory animals in earlier times evidently 

 kept the number of deer at a low ebb. In recent years the deer have 

 been crowded from much of their old range in the valleys by settle- 

 ments and much hunting, but in unsettled areas and on the national 

 forests they seem to be holding their own or slightly increasing. 



Table 12 shows the numbers of black-tailed deer on the national 

 forests in Oregon, according to Forest Service estimates. The figures 

 naturally include a few white-tailed and mule deer along the eastern 

 slope of the Cascades. Because of the great extent of foothill, semi- 

 forested, and chaparral country in the State it seems probable that 

 as many more deer occupy the range outside national forests and that 

 the total black-tailed population for the State in any year may pos- 

 sibly be twice the total estimated as in the national forests. 



