ANIMALS— DEER. 27 



slightly extended, is dipped over toward and suddenly forward from the 

 left shoulder. (Titchkemdtski.) All the gestures of deaf-mutes relating to 

 intelligence are connected with the forehead. 



Animals are expressed pantomimically by some characteristic of their 

 motion or form, and the Indian mimographers generally seem to have hit 

 upon similar signs for the several animals; but to this rule there are marked 

 exceptions, especially in the signs for the deer and the dog. For the deer six 

 signs are noted : 



1. Right hand extended upward by the right ear, with a quick puff from 

 the mouth (Dunbar), perhaps in allusion to the fleet escape on hearing noise. 



2. Make several passes with the hand before the face. (Wied.) 



3. With the right hand in front of body on a level with the shoulder, 

 and about eighteen inches from it, palm down, make the quick up-and-down 

 motion with all the fingers held loosely together, as of the motion of the 

 deer's tail when running. The wrist is fixed in making this sign. It is 

 very expressive to any one who has ever seen the surprised deer in motion. 

 (McChesney.) 



4. Forefinger of right hand extended vertically, back toward breast, 

 then turned from side to side, to imitate the motion of the animal when 

 walking at leisure. (Long.) 



b. Both hands, fingers irregularly outspread at the sides of the head, 

 to imitate the outspread horns. (Titchemdtski.) This sign is made by our 

 deaf-mutes. 



6. Same position, confined to the thumb and two first fingers of each 

 hand. (Burton.) 



The above signs all appear to be used for the animal generically, but 

 the following are separately reported for two of the species: 



Black-tailed deer \_Cariacus macrotis (Say), Gray]. 



1. Make several passes with the hand before the face, then indicate a 

 tail. (Wied.)' 



2. Hold the left hand pendant a short distance in front of the chest, 

 thumb inward, finger ends approximated to each other as much as possible 

 (i. e., with the first and fourth drawn together under the second and third). 

 Then close the right hand around the left (palm to back, and covering the 



