io6 THE DEER FAMILY 



account of his bounding motion. The antelope and 

 white-tail run more smoothly and easily, and the elk, 

 as we have observed, go off at a long, swinging trot. 

 Mule-deer should be shot with a heavy ball, since they 

 lequire hard hitting to bring them down and will carry 

 away more lead than the Virginia deer. Early morn- 

 ing is the best time to look for the mule-deer of to-day. 

 Like many other animals, when much persecuted, they 

 lie quiet by day and feed by night or in the early 

 morning and at evening. They are never seen in large 

 bands like the elk, only a small number are usually seen 

 together. They seek higher ground when through 

 feeding and lie down to rest and ruminate. Here the 

 hunter who is fortunate enough to jump them must stir 

 himself quickly for a snapshot. In former years they 

 often jumped up and paused for a moment, presenting 

 an easy mark, but the educated mule-deer of to-day 

 omits the pause. 



Lydecker was in error in stating that the mule-deer 

 never dwells permanently in the forest. Roosevelt 

 found them plentiful in the densely wooded mountains 

 of Montana, where practically the whole country was 

 covered by a dense forest, and where the opportunities 

 for grazing were small indeed. The stomachs of the 

 animals contained not grass, but blueberries and the 

 leaves and delicate tips of bushes. The only way to 

 procure them, he says, was to find a trail and lie in wait 

 beside it early in the morning and late in the evening. 



Mule-deer are in no sense migrator)-, but in moun- 

 tainous countries they feed high in summer and move 

 to lower and more sheltered localities in the winter 

 season, almost, if not entirely, deserting localities where 



