78 HOOFED ANIMALS 
In Alaska, this species dwindles still lower into the Sirka 
Derer,! which in stature and antlers is even smaller than the 
Florida white-tail. It is very abundant on Admiralty Island, 
but until recently it was slaughtered in great numbers. 
Tue VirGinia Deer, or Wuite-TaiLteD DEER,’ was the 
first member of the Deer Family met by the early settlers of 
America when they went hunting along the Atlantic coast. 
It will also be the last of the large hoofed animals of North 
America to become extinct. It is a forest animal, but in 
many portions of the Great Plains region it freely risks its 
life in the thin fringes of cottonwood timber, quaking-asp, 
and willow brush that border the banks of small rivers and 
large creeks. Unlike the elk and mule deer, the White-Tail 
is a great skulker. When hiding it crouches and carries its 
head low, and by clinging persistently to the friendly cover 
of brush or timber, saves itself under circumstances that 
would be fatal to any high-headed, open-ground species. 
The White-Tailed Deer derives its name from its very 
long, bushy, wedge-shaped tail, which is snowy-white under- 
neath and also on the edges. When the animal is alarmed, 
and running away, this white brush is held stiffly aloft, and 
with every stride of the bearer, it sways from side to side, in 
a startling and highly conspicuous manner. While the pe- 
culiar mixed gray color of the pelage makes it difficult to see 
this animal in brushy surroundings, the moment the creature 
starts to run, its white flag waves as if purposely inviting 
bullets, and in total defiance of all the laws of “protective 
> 
coloration” among animals. Indeed, so very flag-like is this 
1 0-do-coil'e-us sit-ken'sis. 2 Odocotleus vir-gin-t-an'us. 
