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 in 

 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) is 

 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 



