The Wbitetail Deer 77 



apt to get them interlocked in such a fight, and 

 if the efforts of the two beasts fail to disentangle 

 them, both ultimately perish by starvation. I 

 have several times come across a pair of skulls 

 with interlocked antlers. The same thing occurs, 

 though far less frequently, to the mule-deer and 

 even the wapiti. 



The whitetail is the most beautiful and grace- 

 ful of all our game animals when in motion. I 

 have never been able to agree with Judge Caton 

 that the mule-deer is clumsy and awkward in his 

 gait. I suppose all such terms are relative. 

 Compared to the moose or caribou the mule-deer 

 is light and quick in his movements, and to me 

 there is something very attractive in the poise 

 and powder with which one of the great bucks 

 bounds off, all four legs striking the earth 

 together and shooting the body upward and for- 

 ward as if they were steel springs. But there 

 can be no question as to the infinitely superior 

 grace and beauty of the whitetail w r hen he either 

 trots or runs. The mule-deer and blacktail bound, 

 as already described. The prongbuck gallops 

 with an even gait, and so does the bighorn, when 

 it happens to be caught on a flat ; but the white- 

 tail moves with an indescribable spring and buoy- 

 ancy. If surprised close up, and much terrified, 

 it simply runs away as hard as it can, at a gait 

 not materially different from that of any other 



