cealment. . . . The fawns are usually born in May, their number 

 being generally two, although triplets have been recorded. They 

 are more fully spotted than those 'of the mule deer, the spots 

 themselves being more sharply defined and arranged in more 

 definite longitudinal lines. In these respects the fawns are more 

 like those of the Virginian deer." 



Varieties of Black-tailed Deer 



1. Black-tailed Deer. Odocoileus columbianus (Richardson). 



Description and range as above. 



2. Sitkan Black-tailed Deer. O. columbianus sitkensis Merriam. 



Similar, but ears shorter, and basal part of tail above fulvous 

 like the back. 

 Range. Southern Alaska. 



3. Californian Black-tailed Deer. O. columbianus scaphiotus 



Merriam. Colours paler and ears longer. 

 Range. Northern California. 



Moose 



Alces awtfrtcanus Jardine 



Length. 9 feet. Height at shoulder, 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet 6 

 inches. Length of antler, 41 to 44 inches. 



Description. A crest of stiff erect hairs on the neck, much elon- 

 gated and forming a hump on the shoulders, nose large, the 

 upper lip protruding well over the lower, ears large, tail 

 very short, legs long, a pendent mass of hair on the throat 

 called the " bell." Colour blackish-brown above, grizzled with 

 gray on the rump, shoulders and sides of the neck, under 

 parts black, inside of legs and their entire lower portions 

 quite gray, feet black, ears gray. Antlers broadly palmate, 

 solid portion nearly two feet at the widest point, several tines 

 project forward and the outer edge of the flat portion is fringed by 

 an irregular series of points. (Illustrations facing pp. 57 and 60.) 



Range. Eastern British America, Maine, Minnesota and Montana 

 and formerly northern New York. Replaced in Alaska by 

 the Alaskan moose (Alces gigas Miller), a still larger beast, 

 and the largest known member of the deer tribe. 



The moose seems like some old pre-historic creature that has 

 lingered on into the present age, lonely and out of place, as if, 



43 



