120 Deer of the Pacific Coast 



horns with few or no points, so that a fine pair 

 need not be expected. They are of all shapes, 

 sizes, and degrees of branching, so that no one 

 can say just what the average is. They start 

 from the bony crest of the forehead, instead of the 

 skin on the back of the neck, as seen in some 

 celebrated pictures. And, instead of lying along 

 the back, as some artists have them, they point 

 forward, so that a dog that is not pretty quick will 

 be impaled in a twinkling without much lowering 

 of the deer's nose. The antlers are carried late 

 into winter, and often are not shed before the 

 latter part of February. The new growth begins 

 at once, so that by the middle of July the velvet 

 is generally off and the antlers trim and clean. 

 The mooted question of what becomes of deer's 

 horns that are shed is not so difficult to answer 

 here. I have found them in all stages of disin- 

 tegration from " weathering " — the same as the 

 rocks. Strangely enough this takes place, as 

 with the rocks, even faster where there is little 

 or no rain than where there is plenty. On the 

 desert, horn is like a plough-handle or a wagon- 

 tongue, only more so. Without use and without 

 rain they " weather " away. 



In size and proportions this deer varies even 

 more than the Virginia. A good-sized buck 

 will measure six feet from tip of nose to root of 

 tail without special stretching out. That is 



