THE VIRGINIA DEER 119 



and several others which will be referred to later, have 

 gone under in the revolution. 



The red deer is the most beautiful and graceful of 

 all the deer. It is the fastest of the smaller deer, and 

 would excel, I am inclined to believe, in a race with 

 the large trotters — the moose and elk. Its gait, as I 

 have said, is more even and smooth than that of the 

 mule-deer and Columbia black-tail deer. It goes 

 rapidly forward, jumping fifteen feet or more at each 

 bound. The mule-deer are said to jump too high for 

 speed or grace, but their bounding motion is very at- 

 tractive to me. 



The Virginia deer vary so much in size that there 

 have been attempts to create a number of species. 

 They are all one and the same deer to sportsmen, the 

 habits of the game and the methods of pursuit being 

 the same. They are all the same in appearance also, 

 and have the same horns. The smallest variety is 

 found in Arizona, where the sportsman may shoot a 

 deer so small as to be called a dwarf, on the ground 

 where he will find the greatest variety of partridges, 

 pigeons, and doves to be found in the United States. 

 The weight of the Virginia deer will average less than 

 that of the mule-deer. The reader will find references 

 to the weights of the game-animals in the Aitpendix. 



The red deer has a handsome head of trim outline, 

 surmounted by symmetrical antlers. His legs are slen- 

 der but strong, and at a glance, it is evident that he is 

 built for speed. He has the keen nose of the other 

 deer. He hears well, and although many writers be- 

 lieve that he does not see as well as an antelope, he 

 certainly sees well enough to get out of the way of a 



