260 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



altogether is scarcely distinguishable from that on the mule deer, 

 except from its diminished size. These indicia of species I have 

 found exactlj^ alike, whether taken from specimens captured a 

 thousand miles apart or bred in my grounds. 



The tarsal gland on this deer occupies about the same position 

 as on the mule deer, is similarly shaped, but is a little less in 

 extent. The tuft covering it differs from the other most strik- 

 ingly in color. Instead of presenting a lightish yellow color on 

 the surface it is a foxy red, and it presents but little change when 

 opened, although careful inspection shows a dai'ker shade near the 

 skin ; the hairs when individually examined are for the upper half 

 a foxy red color, then tliey begin to turn a little gray, and near 

 the lower end are a light brown. When the hairs of this tuft 

 are spread out in excitement, no appreciable change of color is 

 observed in the appearance of the tuft. Its individual character- 

 istics are sufficiently pronounced to declare the species to which 

 it belongs. 



Scarcely less characteristic are these glands on the Virginia 

 Deer, though from their wide distribution slight variations in size 

 are found on those taken from widely different localities. Still, 

 they possess such distinctive qualities as never to leave the least 

 doubt as to the species to which they belong when nothing but 

 the skin of that portion of the leg is examined. 



The tuft of hairs covering the metatarsal gland on the Virginia 

 Deer commences six lines above the middle of the cannon bone, 

 and extends downward one inch and six lines, and is nine lines 

 broad, the posterior line extending a little beyond the posterior 

 edge of the leg, as in all the other species. On the fully adult 

 the naked portion, which is covered with the same hard black 

 scale as the others, is nine lines long, the upper end of which is 

 as near as possible at the longitudinal middle of the leg and is 

 about two lines wide. 



The largest proportionate specimens I have found were on the 

 coast of the Gulf of Mexico, although the animals are smaller 

 than further north. The longest I have ever met with, on a me- 

 dium sized animal, was one inch and one line long, and taken from 

 an animal I found in the Mobile market ; and on a yearling buck 

 we killed on Negro Hummock near the mouth of Burwicks Bay, 

 I found the naked portion nearly one inch in length. From all 

 the specimens I have been able to examine, from near our south- 

 ern border, I can scarcely doubt that this gland is appreciably 

 larger on the Virginia Deer there than it is in this latitude, and 



