18 AMERICAN GAME. 



in the office of the " Spirit of the Times," all brought 

 from the same island, by the late Mr. Henry Palmer, of 

 New Brunswick. 



The general characteristics of this huge deer, inferior 

 only in size to the Moose deer, Cervus Alus, of the same 

 regions, and to the Wapiti, Hound Horn, or American 

 Elk, Cervus Canadensis, of the far west, differing and dis- 

 tinguishing it from all other animals of the same species, 

 are first : The peculiar structure" of its horns, combining 

 the properties of the palmated and furcated structures. 

 Second, The length and looseness of its pelage, and the 

 shortness of its tail, which rather resembles the scut of a 

 hare, than the long flag of a deer; and thirdly, The ex- 

 treme cleft of its hoofs and feet, extending up the pas- 

 terns, nearly to^the fetlock joint. A structure to which 

 this animal owes its great facility in traversing the 

 treacherous snow drifts, is the unparalleled spread of its 

 hoofs and pasterns, the whole length of which rests on the 

 surface over which it bounds, when in full action, up to 

 the fetlock, supporting it where small-footed animals of 

 inferior size and weight would sink up to the belly at 

 every stride, and where man himself labors even with 

 the* mechanical aid of snow-shoes. 



In speaking of the color of the Eeindeer below, as the 

 most grizzly and lightest colored of its tribe, I am not cer- 

 tain that I have not fallen into the error of assigning the 

 characteristic coloring of one, the Newfoundland variety, 

 and possibly the winter coloring of that, as general 



