The Deer Tribe 



297 



as Southern California, stands about 3 feet 3 inches at the shoulder, and weighs over 17 stone 

 clean. It carries good antlers, measuring as much as 30 inches, and in colour is tawny red in 

 summer, brownish grey in winter. It is a far better sporting animal than the sneaking white- 

 tailed deer, and affords excellent stalking. These deer are still abundant in many localities. 

 Mr. Phillipps-Wolley writes thus of them in " Big Game Shooting " : " Some idea of the number 

 of these deer in British Columbia may be gathered from the fact that in one district I have 

 had a chance of killing seventeen separate stags in an hour's still hunt, whilst one settler in 

 the Similkameen country fed his hogs on deer-meat through a whole winter." Four races of 

 mule-deer the TYPICAL, the CALIFORNIAN, the LA PAZ, and the WESTERN DESERT race have 

 been identified by naturalists. 



The BLACK-TAILED DEER is another well-known cervine of Western North America, closely 

 allied to the mule-deer, but distinguished from that species by its inferior size and its much 

 blacker tail. The antlers, as a rule, run somewhat smaller than in the case of the mule-deer. 

 This, too, is a very abundant species, affording fairly good sport (considering its liking for 

 timber and dense bush) and excellent venison. 



In South America are to be found several kinds of marsh-deer, of which the best known is 

 the handsome MARSH-DEER, having its range from Brazil to the forest country of the Argentine 

 Republic. Little is known of this and other South American deer by British sportsmen. The 

 marsh-deer is almost equal in size to the red deer of Scotland, but somewhat less stout of 

 build ; the colouring is bright chestnut in summer, brown in winter ; the coat is long and 

 coarse, as befits a swamp-loving creature ; the antlers usually display ten points, and measure 

 in fine specimens as much as 23 or 24 inches. 



The PAMPAS-DEER, a species closely allied to the marsh-deer, is of small size, standing 

 about 2 feet 6 inches at the shoulder. The antlers, usually three-pointed, measure no more 

 than from 12 to 14 inches in fine specimens. This deer is found from Brazil to Northern 

 Patagonia. 



The PERUVIAN and CHILIAN GUEMALS are small deer, found on the high Andes, and are 

 somewhat inferior in size to the Virginian deer. The males carry simple antlers forming a 

 single fork, and measuring about 9 inches. The coat, yellowish brown in hue, is coarse, thick. 



ermission of Professor Bumpus\ 



VIRGINIAN DEER. 



This deer is the best-known representative of a species displaying extraordinary local variation in size and colour. 



[New York. 



38 



