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 I 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. Odocoileus hemionus (Rafmesque). Description 



and range as above. 



2. Californian Mule Deer. O. hemionus 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. 

 > Crook's Deer. O. crooki Mearns. Somewhat like the mule 



deer, but reddish-fawn in colour, tail naked at base 



beneath. 

 Range. New Mexico. 



