varieties of Mule Deer and Allied Species 
about the blacktail or mule deer, that no other game possesses. 
Barring the bighorn, their meat is the best, their hide tans into the 
best buckskin, and you turn from the large elk or the agile antelope to 
the graceful beauty of the blacktail buck, and find there the greatest 
satisfaction. The head of the bighorn is a finer trophy, no doubt. 
and you are led to grand scenery in the pursuit of him, but it is heart- 
breaking work. Where you find the blacktail you will find other 
pleasures, for he delights in the most charming bits of country to be 
found. He will jump up from the tall weeds and grass among the 
aspens, so close as to startle you as you ride through them, or will 
leap into view from the shade of a deep washout far in the desert, 
where he finds in the feed and surroundings something to suit his 
taste. He is crafty also, for if he thinks he is hidden I have known 
him to lie in thick bush until almost kicked out after all sorts of 
expedients to drive him out have failed. He, has perhaps the keenest 
scent and the best hearing of all the deer tribe . . . but cannot see as 
well as the antelope, for | have stood within ten or twenty feet 
of several passing bands which failed to distinguish me from a stump 
or rock. Antelope will approach very closely occasionally, out of 
pure inquisitiveness, but never a deer. If anything moves a deer sees 
it instantly, but he cannot tell what a still object is.” 
Varieties of Mule Deer and Allied Species 
1. Mule Deer. Odocotleus hemionus (Rafinesque). Description 
and range as above. 
Californian Mule Deer. O. hemtonus californicus (Caton). 
Similar, with smaller ears and with a dark median stripe on 
the tail. 
Range. Coast range of California south of San Francisco. 
3. Desert Mule Deer. O. hemionus eremicus (Mearns).  Paler 
than any of the other varieties. 
Range. Desert areas of lower California and Sonora. 
4. Cerros Island Deer. O. cerrosensis Merriam. Similar to the 
Californian variety, but much smaller. 
Range. Cerros Island off the Californian coast. 
5. Crook’s Deer. O. crooki Mearns. Somewhat like the mule 
deer, but reddisH-fawn in colour, tail naked at _ base 
beneath. 
Range. New Mexico. 
Ny 
