DEER. 



395 



Habits. 



colour of the pelage in winter is tawny grey, with white on the under-parts and 

 throat, and the face is grey, with a darker forehead, the legs being dark cinnamon 

 colour. In summer the colour changes to bay. 



In habits and gait this deer closely resembles the mule-deer, but 

 it is said to occasionally produce as many as three fawns at a birth. 

 Mr. Grinnell states that the black-tail is chiefly found in the deepest recesses of the 

 coniferous forests of the Pacific ranges, and seldom wanders far away from the 

 protection of the woods. Where they have been but little molested, these deer 

 frequently come down to the shore to feed upon a particular kind of seaweed, and 

 during such visits many are killed by the Indians, who paddle stealthily along the 

 shore in their canoes. 



The Pudu Deer. 



Genus Pudua. 



The tiny little deer from the Chilian Andes, known as the pudu (Pudua 

 hwmilis), although allied to the brockets, is so distinct from all others as to 

 necessitate its reference to a separate genus. 

 This deer, which is scarcely larger than a hare, 

 has a rounded head, with rather large ears, 

 between which in the males are a pair of 

 minute spike-like antlers, placed comparatively 

 near together. The fur is of a reddish brown 

 colour, becoming paler on the under-parts. There 

 are no tusks in the upper jaw, and the skull 

 differs from those of all the other American 

 deer except the guemals in that the premaxillary 

 bones, which form the extremity of the muzzle, 

 extend upwards to join the nasal bones covering 

 the cavity of the nose. The ankle-joint ex- 

 hibits certain peculiarities of structure unknown 

 in any other species. 



HEAD OF THE pudu DEER. (From Sclater, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1866.) 



The Musk-Deer. 

 Genus Moschus. 



The musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus) of the Himalaya differs so remarkably 

 in several important points from all other deer that it must certainly be regarded 

 as forming a subfamily by itself, while some authorities consider it entitled to 

 rank as the representative of a distinct family. These peculiarities arc chiefly 

 internal. Among the most important is the presence of a gall-bladder to the liver, 

 as in the Ox family, while the brain is much less convoluted than in other deer The 

 absence of antlers in both sexes cannot, however, be taken as a character of more 

 than generic importance, since the same feature occurs in the Chinese water-deer. 



The musk-deer is a somewhat clumsily built animal, standing about 20 inches 



