THE BLACK-TAILED AND VIRGINIA DEER. 323 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE BLACK-TAILED AND VIRGINIA DEER, AND THEIR 

 VARIETIES. 



The Black-tailed and Virginia Deer, and their Varieties. Range of the 

 Black - tail. Misapplication of Names. Size, Speed, and Jumping 

 Power. Character of its Flesh. Its Abundance. Great Numbers 

 slaughtered Annually. Objection of Pot-hunters to Hounds. Best 

 Kind of Dogs for hunting it in the Forests. Packs in the North-west 

 Use of Deer-hounds. Where to find the Black-tail. The White-tail- 

 ed Deer. Its Haunts and Habits. Difference between it and the Black- 

 tail when running before Hounds. Its Intrusive Character and Abun- 

 dance. How Farmers keep it away from their Crops. Antipathy be- 

 tween Sheep and Deer. Fondness for Salt and Sulphur Springs. Best 

 Weapon for hunting it. The Spotted and White Deer. The Former a 

 Great Pet. The Latter supposed to be a Wandering Spirit by the In- 

 dians. Where found. The Virginia Deer. Its Feeding-grounds. Best 

 Time for stalking it. How to stalk it. The Dwarf Deer. Its Haunts, 

 Habits, and Numbers. Different Methods of hunting Deer. A Day's 

 Hunting in the Woods with Hounds. Number Captured. A Fortnight 

 in the Forests of Washington Territory. Our Camp and Hunting Expe- 

 rience. Extraordinary Abundance of Fur, Fin, and Feather. Incidents 

 of Sport and Camp Life. Merry Times. Attacked by a Buck. Lost iu 

 the^ Forest. Actions of a Man when lost. How I reached Camp. Ex- 

 cursions after Fin and Feather. Homeward bound. A Grand Hunt- 

 ball. The Ball-room and the People. An Original Band. The Terpsi- 

 choreans, and how they were put through their Figures. Ball-room 

 Scenes and Repasts. A Hunt-dinner. Rambling once more. A Pleas- 

 ant Reminiscence. 



THE black-tailed deer (Cariacus columbianus : Gray) i< 

 confined to the region lying between the Sierra Nevada 

 and Cascade Ranges and the Pacific Ocean. Its range ex- 

 tends from Alaska and British Columbia to Mexico ; hence 

 it is found in Washington Territory, Oregon, and Califor- 

 nia, and large numbers frequent the dense forests of these 

 regions. I never heard of it or saw it in the interior pla- 

 teaux lying between the above chains and the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, the so-called black -tail of that vast area being the 



