8o GAME ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



has been described by Drs. Coues and Yarrow in their important 

 work on the mammals observed by Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler's Sur- 

 rey, published in the Reports of the " United States Geographical 

 Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian," Vol. V., Zoology. 

 The largest bucks of this variety do not exceed seventy pounds in 

 weight, and the does are of course still smaller, falling under sixty 

 pounds. 



On the Pacific Coast, and especially on Whidby Island, are 

 found deer, white or mottled, which have been designated as Cer- 

 •mis albus or C. virginiantis, var. variatus, but there can be Uttle 

 ^oubt that these are simply cases of albinism, which is not very un- 

 common with this animal, and that the supposed species or varie- 

 ties have no zoological standing whatever. 



The common deer has, for so widely distributed a species, but 

 few appellations. In the east it is generally called Red or Virginia 

 deer, in the west it is almost universally called the White-taiL 

 This species is so well known as scarcely to need any description. 

 Every one has seen it either alive or dead and many of our readers 

 have felt the proud delight of standing over their first buck. In 

 summer its coat is bright red, but on the approach of autumn the 

 color deepens, becoming more grey until in October the short close 

 hair is nearly of a mouse color, and the animal is then said to be in 

 " the blue." The throat and under surface of the tail are always 

 white. The horns, which are not large but are usually very sym- 

 metrical, bend gracefully forward and the points are directed some- 

 what downward. These weapons are shed in February or March 

 according to the latitude which the wearer inhabits. " The ani 

 mal at once retires from the herd to hide itself in the thickets antf' 

 unfrequented places, venturing abroad for pasture only in the 

 night. The horns are yearly shed, to be renewed in ampler devel- 

 opment. In his first year — for it is the male alone that is fur- 

 nished with horns — he has only a kind of corneous excrescence, 

 short, and covered with a thin, hairy skin ; in the second year 

 simple straight horns make their appearance. In the third they 

 have two antlers, in the fourth, three ; in the fifth, four ; in the 

 sixth, five ; after which the antlers do not always increase in 

 number, though they do sometimes amount to six or seven on 

 either side ; but the stag's age is then estimated rather from the 



