COAT AND COLOR. 143 
drop their young; they commence their return to the south in 
September, and reach the vicinity of the woods towards the end 
of October, where they are joined by the males... . . Captain 
Perry saw deer on the Melville Peninsula, as late as the 23d of 
September, and the females with their fawns made their first 
appearance on the 23d of April.” Now, although the period of 
yeaning is not necessarily identical with the time of shedding the 
winter coat, observation shows that it is intimately connected 
with it where the course of nature is unobstructed. If that is 
true of this animal, also, then the winter coat should be discarded 
in the month of May or June at the latest. Then we should 
have to put back the time when the summer coat is shed and 
the new winter coat taken till August or September or even Oc- 
tober, which Dr. Richardson says is the time when the males join 
the females near the southern borders of the Barren Grounds. 
If, as Richardson says, this animal takes on his most attractive 
attire while he is still poor in flesh, while his antlers are in 
active growth, and three months before the season of love com- 
mences, we must intleed consider it very exceptional and very 
extraordinary. It seems to be a provision of nature, that the 
male should be made the most attractive to the female at this 
season. His antlers, which we may presume, according to cari- 
bon tastes are considered ornamental as well as useful, are per- 
fected just previous to the commencement of the rutting sea- 
son, and at the same time all the others wear their handsomest 
dress, and we pause before we accept the conclusion that this 
animal alone wears his best attire in deep seclusion, and quite 
beyond the notice of the other sex and before he is prompted to 
show himself to these this dress must be despoiled of its beauty 
and its attractiveness destroyed by two or three months’ wear. 
This may all be so and this exceptional state of things produced 
by his high northern range and the short summers there, but I 
could not help making these reflections, which suggest the possi- 
bility that Richardson may have been mistaken in the date 
which he gives for the time when the most ornamental coat is 
taken on. I hope I have not been misled in making these sug- 
gestions by a desire to maintain a theory which I confess has 
somehow taken possession of me, that all of our deer must have 
two pelages in the year. I know that the maintenance of theo- 
ries is the great bane to impartial investigation, and I try to 
guard against it, but a great number of harmonious facts all 
pointing in one direction, necessarily so arrange themselves as to 
