PREFACE. 
THE study of the natural history of the animals whose pursuit 
has ever been with me a favorite diversion has long occupied 
my hours of leisure. For many years I have kept in domesti- 
cation the American Antelope and all of the American deer of 
which I treat, except the Moose and the two species of Caribou 
or American Reindeer. I have therefore had opportunity of 
studying them which I could not have enjoyed while they were 
in their wild state. Having early formed the habit of noting 
down my observations,— which those competent to judge have 
deemed of scientific value, I have been induced to put them 
in a form which will make them available to others. 
I undertook this work some years since, but found that new 
observations were constantly requiring changes in and additions 
to what I had supposed was finished, till I despaired of complet- 
ing the work to my own satisfaction. I have, however, taken the 
advice of a scientific friend, and arranged my observations for the 
press in their present form, conscious that much remains to be 
discovered relating to the objects of my study, and that many of 
my conclusions may require modification. 
I make no attempt to exhaust the natural history of even the 
few animals of which I treat. I only attempt a monograph of 
them. I leave their osteology and anatomy almost entirely for 
other and more competent hands, and invade their province only 
