THE COLUMBIA BLACK-TAILED DEER 



By Thomas G. Faruell. 



S the Virginia Deer is to the Eastern States, so is the 



i\\^/ Columbia Black-tailed Deer {Cervus Columhianus) 

 X'^X to the Far West — i. e., the latter species constitutes 

 '^}^=^ the common Deer of this region. By the term Far 

 West I refer to that portion of North America which lies 

 between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. 



There are many who suppose that, besides the Elk, the 

 Black-tailed Deer is the only representative of the Cervidce to 

 be found in this region, and before I proceed further, I wish 

 to correct this erroneous impression. A person seeking 

 information regarding the varieties, habits, and character- 

 istics of the game of a certain region, is likely to think, 

 upon meeting with a hunter of large experience, that from 

 him he can gain all the information desired; but, from my 

 own experience, I find that these people are often unrelia- 

 ble, for, although honest in their opinions, they differ 

 greatly. One will make assertions which the others will 

 most emphatically contradict, and the only means of arriv- 

 ing at anything like a correct conclusion is to take the 

 statements of large numbers of these people, and, by com- 

 paring these and sifting out what appear to be the most 

 logical and accurate of their statements, the truth may be 

 arrived at. 



Some writers not having followed this or any other legiti- 

 mate course of investigation, this region has been robbed of 

 the credit due it as the abode of several species of the Deer 

 family. 



The Moose, the grandest of this grand family, supposed 

 by many to be found nowhere west of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains, is met with in considerable numbers in the Bitter Root 



(115) 



