THE MULE-DEER 229 



being a favorite haunt of the whitetail, long tongues of 

 the distribution area of this species are thrust into the 

 domain of its bolder, less stealthy and less crafty kinsman. 

 Throughout the plains country the whitetail is the deer of 

 the river bottoms, where the rank growth gives it secure 

 hiding-places, as well as ample food. The mule-deer, on 

 the contrary, never comes down into the dense growths 

 of the river bottoms. Throughout the plains country 

 it is the deer of the broken Bad Lands which fringe these 

 river bottoms on either side, and of the rough ravines 

 which wind their way through the Bad Lands to the edge 

 of the prairie country which lies back of them. The 

 broken hills, their gorges filled with patches of ash, buck 

 brush, cedar, and dwarf pine, form a country in which 

 the mule-deer revels. The whitetail will, at times, wan- 

 der far out on the prairies where the grass is tall and 

 rank; but it is not nearly so bold or fond of the open 

 as the mule-deer. The latter is frequently found in hilly 

 country where the covering is so scanty that the animal 

 must be perpetually on the watch, as if it were a bighorn 

 or prongbuck, in order to spy its foes at a distance and 

 escape before they can come near; whereas the whitetail 

 usually seeks to elude observation by hiding by its 

 crouching, stealthy habits. 



It must be remembered, however, that with the mule- 

 deer, as with all other species of animals, there is a wide 

 variability in habits under different conditions. This is 

 often forgotten even by trained naturalists, who accept 

 the observations made in one locality as if they applied 

 throughout the range of the species. Thus in the gen- 



