PRONGBUCK AND SQUIRRELS 333 



compact and the legs are proportionately shorter. The progress of cultivation has 

 not yet diminished the distributional area of the mule-deer to the same degree as 

 that of many other animals, probably on account of the wilder nature of its home, 

 which is mainly the tract between the Missouri and the Sierra Nevada. The 

 survival of the species is also doubtless owing to the fact that it accommodates 

 itself more readily to the vicinity of human habitations than do other deer. 

 Biack-TaUed The black-tailed deer {M. [0.] columbiana), which accords in the 



Deer. form of its antlers very closely with the mule-deer, is not only of 



smaller stature than the latter, but has much smaller ears. Its name is derived from 

 the black upper surface of the moderately long tail, of which the lower side is 

 white. The gland on the outer side of the lower surface of the leg is of the same 

 type as that of the mule-deer but shorter. In winter the general colour of the 

 coat of this deer is brownish grey speckled with black on the upper-parts and 

 white below, but in summer the shade changes to yellowish red. British 

 Columbia is the home of the typical race of this species (for there are several), 

 which is unknown east of the Sierra Nevada. This deer seldom leaves the pine- 

 forests of its native hills in the neighbourhood of the Columbia River and the 

 Pacific Ocean, although when disturbed it will descend to the sea-shore to feed 

 upon seaweed. 



North America possesses one very remarkable mammal, the 



ong uc ^^ representative of its family, in the prongbuck (Antilocapra 

 americana), a ruminant resembling an antelope in general appearance, but with 

 an altogether peculiar type of horn. In addition to this feature it is remarkable 

 for its small hoofs, without any vestiges of the lateral hoofs possessed by most of 

 the ruminants. The hair, which on the hinder part of the neck is lengthened into 

 a mane, is chiefly bright chestnut-brown in colour, but becomes dark brown on the 

 face, while the chin, some bars on the throat, cheeks, the inside of the ears, and 

 under-parts are white. The horns of the bucks (for the females are generally horn- 

 less) are black in colour and laterally compressed, with a well-marked fork about 

 the middle of their length. They differ from those of other hollow-horned rumi- 

 nants not only by this forking but likewise by being annually shed and renewed, 

 the new horn growing up inside the old sheath, which it gradually replaces. 



Although the prongbuck seems never to have ranged east of the Mississippi, 

 in former times it inhabited all the country now within the boundaries of the 

 United States west of that river, except the forests and the higher mountains. 



Among the squirrels of the United States mention may be made 

 rey uirr . ^ ^ e ^ re ^ S q U j rre i (Sciurus carolinensis), which seems to resemble 

 the European squirrel in its habits more than does the chickari. Typically an 

 inhabitant of the eastern United States, this squirrel, inclusive of its numerous 

 local races, ranges from Canada to Guatemala. It is almost entirely confined to 

 thick forests, where it lays up provision-stores beneath the surface for winter use. 

 Occasionally dark olive-brown above and grey below, it is generally pale grey 

 above, marked by a pale fulvous line on each flank. It is distinguished from the 

 chickari by the absence of ear-tufts, as w T ell as by the longer tail, and its larger 

 bodily size. At least nine other species of squirrels are recognised in North 

 America, while there are many more in Central and South America, among which 



