BLACK-TAILED DEER. 185 



Here was something more extraordinary than my ex- 

 perience had before shown me. Anxious to secure and, 

 examine this curiosity I shot him through the head, and, 

 placing him on my horse, took him into the camp to my 

 friend. Together we dissected out the course of the 

 bullet. From the ricochet it had struck the deer on 

 the fore arm, passing through and breaking the bone. It 

 had then gone into the chest, striking a rib which deflected 

 it outward, so that it passed just under the skin to the 

 paunch, where it came out and struck the hind leg just 

 above the knee, breaking the bone. The deer had a 

 fore leg and hind leg broken on the same side ; yet it 

 managed to change its position for a distance of 300 

 yards, and to cross the ravine easy enough for an un- 

 wounded animal, but which I should have pronounced 

 entirely impossible for one with such a wound as I Imve 

 described. 



