130 The North American Cervidce. 



Six unquestioned species of deer inhabit North America. These 

 are the moose (Alee Americana — Jard.), the barren ground caribou 

 (Rangifer Groenlandicus — Baird), the elk (Cervus Canadensis — Erx- 

 leben), the mule deer (Cariacus macrotis (Say) Gray), the black-tail 

 deer (Cariacus Columbianus (Rich.) Gray), and the Virginia deer 

 (Cariacus Virginianus (Bodd.) Gray). Beside these, there are 

 several geographical races or varieties, the zoological status of some 

 of which is, however, doubtful. The woodland caribou is a distinct 

 race of the Arctic reindeer, and the California form of the mule deer 

 appears also to be a good variety. In the several supposed races of 

 Cariacus Virginianus, such as macrurus, leucurus, Mexicanus, and 

 Couesi, size appears to be the distinguishing varietal characteristic. 

 In the six species already mentioned, we have every variety of size and 

 form, from the gigantic moose, which is taller than the largest horse, 

 down to the little dwarf deer of Arizona, which at the withers meas- 

 ures scarcely thirty-two inches in height. Not less is the difference in 

 grace and beauty of form between the various North American mem- 

 bers of this family. On the one hand stands the Virginia deer, whose 

 very name is symbolical of elegance and beauty of motion ; on the 

 other, the moose, huge, ungainly, and, in most of its movements, 

 awkward. With a head more hideous than that of a mule, a neck so 

 short that it cannot reach the ground, legs of immense length, and 

 huge horns shaped like coal shovels, it is as far as possible from being 

 graceful or attractive. But regard it with the hunter's eye, as, when 

 startled, it dashes along with swinging trot, crashing through the 

 forest and making the dead sticks snap and fly in its impetuous 

 career, taking in its stride without any apparent effort the great fallen 

 logs that lie in its course, and in a moment disappearing shadow-like 

 among the bare tree trunks in the distance, and it will be acknowl- 

 edged that, if not a graceful, it is at least a grand animal. Most of 

 the North American deer, however, are beautiful and graceful. 



Before speaking in detail of the various species of Cervidce found 

 in North America, it is desirable to explain just what a deer is. 



Roughly speaking, all hoofed animals are contained in the order 

 Ungulata. This division of the Mammalia includes, therefore, the 

 formerly accepted orders Pachydermata, Ruminantia, and Solidun- 

 gula, which have been discarded by modern naturalists. The group 

 is a very large one, its families being the horses, tapirs, rhinoceroses, 



