MULE DEER. 



Cariacus macrotis, — Gray. 



THE Mule Deer, or as it is commonly called in the West the 

 Black-tailed Deer, is found throughout the Missouri Region 

 and in the Rocky Mountains. The species is quite abundant in 

 many localities, and where it has not been too much hunted fur- 

 nishes good sport to the still hunter. 



In size the Mule Deer considerably exceeds the common deer 

 of the Eastern States, the White-tail of the West, and as an article 

 of food its flesh is far superior to that of the latter species. The 

 color of the Mule Deer at certain seasons somewhat resembles that 

 of the Virginia Deer, but its horns are much larger, and do not bend 

 so far forward. Its tail is widely different, being for the greater 

 part of its length, thin and rat-like, naked below with a covering 

 of short white hair above, and a heavy brush of jet black hairs at 

 the tip. There is a triangular patch of white at the root of the tail 

 on the buttocks, which somewhat resembles the same mark on the 

 Elk and Bighorn. 



The true C. macrotis is found throughout the Mountains nearly 

 or quite as far west as the main divide of the Sierra Nevadas. In 

 Southern California and Arizona, among the mountains of the Coast 

 Range, it is replaced by a recently described variety called in that 

 section, the Burro Deer, an appellation about equivalent to the name 

 of the Eastern variety, burro in Spanish signifying jackass. This 

 variety was described in a former number of the American Nat- 

 uralist by the Hon. J. D. Caton. It was first met with by this gen- 

 tleman near Santa Barbara, Cal. While at this place Judge Caton 

 made an excursion into the Coast Range at Gaviota Pass, and se- 

 xuied three bucks. These were evidently a variety of the Mule 

 Deer, and not of the Black-tailed, having all the distinctive peculi- 

 arities of the former. The variety differs from the type in being 



