MULE DEER. 95 



ish Columbia, this deer is met with, though much less abundant 

 than the true black-tailed deer, or even the Virginia deer. This 

 deer occupies about thirty degrees of latitude, from Cape St. 

 Lucas on the south into British Columbia on the north. 



If their numbers are diminished by the intrusion of the white 

 man, they still maintain their ground with more pertinacity than 

 the elk. They have the same defect of vision as have the other 

 members of the cervus family, which however is in a measure 

 compensated by an acute sense of smell and of hearing. At the 

 present time at least they are wary and not to be taken by the 

 inexperienced hunter. At their best speed they do not get over 

 the ground fast. They do not run, in a proper sense, but when 

 in haste they bound along, all the feet striking and leaving the 

 ground at once. For a few minutes they may make pretty rapid 

 progress in this mode, but it soon seems to fatigue them. Once 

 when sitting on a crag on the Rocky Mountains, nearly ten thou- 

 sand feet above the sea, with a glass, I watched one which had 

 been started by a companion, while he bounded through a valley 

 a thousand feet below me. Though he was in view for less than 

 half a mile, he showed evident fatigue before he passed out of 

 sight. The labor of such a mode of progress, as compared with 

 the long graceful leaps of the common deer when at full speed, 

 must be apparent to any one who has carefully observed the two. 



Their legs are much larger and coarser than those of the 

 Virginia deer, and so in their every motion they are less agile 

 and graceful. In their entire form they are awkward and un- 

 gainly. Their great uncouth ears, so disproportioned to every 

 other part of the animal, are the most ugly feature about them, 

 and in fact give tone to the whole figure and tend to dispel any 

 admiration which might otherwise be excited. 



In color, this deer for its summer dress has a pale, dull yellow. 

 As this is shed in the latter part of summer, it is replaced by 

 a very fine short black coat as it appears in places denuded 

 of the summer coat as seen partially through it. It retains the 

 black but for a few days. Almost immediately it begins to turn 

 gray, so that before the summer coat is fairly shed the black is 

 mostly gone. As the hairs of the winter coat grow longer they 

 grow larger and so become more dense, while they also become 

 lighter in color as the season advances. The front border of the 

 ear is black. Generally, though not by any means universally, 

 black stripes descend from the inner sides of the eyes and unite 

 an inch and six lines below, and from the eyes extend up towards 

 the antlers, presenting in the forehead of the deer what the hunt- 



