Tbe Mule- deer 



221 



about as he would stand with nose a little out- 

 stretched in feeding. But as deer are never as 

 high as they seem in pictures, he will be but 

 twenty inches high at the brisket. The length 

 of the shank of hind leg is the same, with a 

 girth at the shoulder of three feet ten inches for 

 a fat one. This makes a very handsome animal, 

 though its height at the top of the shoulder will 

 not be over forty inches. Its great elasticity and 

 quickness when in motion make it look larger 

 and far more imposing than when undergoing 

 measurement after death. 



The tail varies greatly with the individual as 

 well as with the age. It is from six to eight 

 inches long, often so short on the largest deer as 

 to appear stubby. On the greater part of the 

 under side a narrow strip is naked, while the rest 

 is a warm white. In diameter it generally nar- 

 rows from the base to within a third or a fourth 

 of the end, where it suddenly widens out into a 

 tuft of longer hairs, mainly black. A strip of 

 brownish gray, or brown, runs down the top to 

 near the end, but most of the tuft is quite black, 

 while most of the rest is quite white. Being set 

 against a large white patch on the rump, some 

 ten inches wide, this black is so conspicuous that 

 it is not strange it has received among most hunt- 

 ers the name of "blacktail," which properly be- 

 longs to the Columbia deer of the North. This 



