FAMILY CERVID.E, OR DEER TRIBE. 289 



260. The family CERVID.E, or Deer tribe, then, is distin- 

 guished from all the rest, by the possession of bony deciduous 

 horns ; covered with a soft skin, or velvet^ instead of with horny 

 matter ; and termed Antlers. " The animals of this group, cele- 

 brated for their beauty, vigour, and speed, are spread very exten- 

 sively over the globe, each quarter having its own peculiar 

 species. To this universality of distribution, however, there are 

 certain exceptions; none are found in Australia, and none in 

 the southern and central regions of Africa ; their place in the 

 latter regions being supplied by the Giraffe, and by hosts of 

 Antelopes. Hills of moderate elevation, wide plains, and forests, 

 are the localities to which these fleet-limbed creatures give prefer- 

 ence ; none tenant the peaked ridges of the mountain-top, where 

 the Chamois and Musk-deer find a congenial abode. They delight 

 in a wide range of country, and trust to their swiftness of flight 

 for safety. Most of them herd together in troops ; some few live 

 singly. It may be observed that, in general, their body is round 

 and stout ; their limbs long, sinewy, and powerful ; their neck 

 long, but very muscular ; their head small and carried high ; 

 their eyes large and full ; their ears ample.* " With the excep- 

 tion of the Rein-deer, the female is destitute of antlers ; save in 

 a few rare individual cases, analogous to those in which the hen 

 assumes the plumage of a cock bird. These appendages are very 

 useful for the purposes of defence, and occasionally for attack ; 

 and it is remarkable that the species inhabiting the coldest 

 climates, are those in which the antlers are most flattened ; as 

 if they were destined to be used by the animal, like shovels, 

 in clearing the snoW from off its food. This is especially the 

 cusi' with the Elk, which, with the Rein-deer, inhabits the coldest 

 parts of the northern hemisphere, in both the Old and New World; 

 and by this character they are separated from the other Deer. 

 The Elk, or Moose-deer, was once tolerably numerous in Europe, 

 but is now very rare in that quarter of the gbbe ; it is much 

 more abundant, however, in North America, its head-quarters 

 being the vicinity of the great lakes, and the forests on both 



* Pictorial Museum, Vol. I., p. 130. 

 r 



