THE MULE BEER. 295 



is rendered conspicuously prominent by the fact that it is 

 thin and rat-like, bare of all hair beneath, but well covered 

 with white hair above, while the outer tip is decorated with 

 a tuft of black hairs two or three inches long. This deer 

 attains a height of from three and a half to four feet, and 

 weighs from one hundred and eighty to about three hun- 

 dred pounds. The body is round, and generally full in 

 outline, and the legs are so long, slender, and graceful that 

 they seem scarcely strong enough to carry the heavy body 

 which they support; and one would certainly never give 

 them credit for the power they display in making the stu- 

 pendous bounds which have made the animal famous as 

 the "jumping deer." I have seen it leap over matted trees 

 and branches which must have been all of twelve or four- 

 teen feet in height; and on one occasion it bounded over 

 a fallen monarch of the forest, a gigantic pine, which we 

 found by measurement to have a circumference of twenty- 

 four feet at the base, and to be elevated four or five feet 

 from the ground, by the quantity of soil attached to its 

 roots. Its ability to leap is a favorite theme with old 

 hunters, and some of the tales told by them approach close- 

 ly on the marvellous. 



Another distinguishing feature in its appearance is the 

 magnificent antlers the stag bears. The lower beams in 

 these are well set back, and the prongs jut straight up- 

 ward. The number of points frequently amounts to fif- 

 teen or sixteen, but the usual number in an adult is ten ; 

 and if it exceeds this, they appear clumsy, and are irregu- 

 lar in position. When seen from a front view, they look 

 very striking and stately, and cause a person to sigh for 

 them and their owner. During the rutting season, which 

 commences about the last of October or the first of No- 

 vember, they are used to good advantage in the combats 

 between erotic males, and they sometimes become so en- 

 tangled that they cannot be separated, and both animals, 

 as a consequence, die of hunger. 



The sirens whose voices lead the gallants to destruction 

 bring forth their young in June. These number one or 



