Mr. Douglas on North American Mammalia. 331 



of an inch ; between the root or first antlers 5 inches ; between the se- 

 cond 17 inches; between the third 15 inches ; and between the tips 9 J 

 inches. Those of the first year 3^ inches long, with one antler ^ an inch 

 long. They herd from November to April and May, at which time the 

 female secretes herself to bring forth. The young are spotted with white 

 until the middle of the first winter, when they change to the same colour 

 as the most aged. Its vernacular name is Mowitch. 



This species is the most common of any in the districts adjoining 

 the river Columbia, more especially in the fertile Prairies of the Coiva- 

 lidske and Multnomah River, within one hundred miles of the Western 

 Ocean, They are also occasionally met with near the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains, on the west side of that ridge. Their favorite haunts are the 

 coppices composed of Coryhis, Ruhvs, Rosa and Amelancliier, on the 

 declivities of the low hills or dry undulating grounds. Their gait is two 

 ambling steps and a bound, the bound exceeding double the distance of 

 the steps, which mode they do not depart from even when closely pursued. 

 In running the tail is erect wagging from side to side, and from its unusual 

 length is the most remarkable feature about the animal. The voice of the 

 male calling the female is like the sound produced by blowing in the muzzle 

 of a gun, or in a hollow cane. The voice of the female calling the young 

 is mm meB, pronounced shortly. This is well imitated by the native 

 tribes with a stem of Heradeum lanatum cut at a joint leaving 6 inches 

 of a tube. With this, aided by a head and horns of a full grown buck, 

 which the hunter carries with him as a decoy, and which he moves back- 

 wrards and forwards among the long grass, alternately feigning the voice 

 with the tube, the unsuspecting animal is attracted witliin a few yards 

 in the hope of finding its partner, when instantly up springs the hunter 

 and plants an arrow in his object. They are tenacious of life, and often 

 escape although both shoulders be broken. The flesh is excellent when 

 in good order, remarkably tender and well flavoured. 



This is the Chevreuil, the jumping, or long-tailed Deer of the Cana- 

 dian voyagers, and the one alluded to by Mr. Sabine in the Zoological 

 Appendix to Captain Franklin's First Narrative. To C. Virginianus and 

 C. Mexicanus the present is more nearly related than to any other : from 

 both, however, it is abundantly distinct, not only in natural habit but 

 m manner and disposition. 



