146 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
dirty white during the winter, but these shades of color differ 
very much in individuals, while it is dependent on neither age or 
sex. On the body the does are as dark as the bucks at all sea-: 
sons. I have sometimes thought I could detect a darker shade 
on the adults than on the young animals, and the next time I 
would examine the herd with a view to this very point I would 
find myself obliged to abandon the distinctions. It is only on the 
dark portions, as the head, neck, belly, and legs, that the adult 
males are blacker than the females and the young in the early 
winter dress, but as before stated this distinction quite disappears 
by spring, except that on the mane of the adult, which may be 
nearly a foot in length, hanging from the lower side of the neck, 
for its whole length there is a black stripe two or more inches 
wide, about two inches from its lower border. These two inches 
of the lower ends of the hairs of this mane are a russet-brown, and 
such is the color also above the black stripe, passing quite over the 
neck to the black stripe on the other side. For a month before 
the shedding of the coat commences, this black stripe on either side 
of the mane becomes quite conspicuous, from the lighter shade to 
which the balance of the mane has faded. I have noticed that 
this prominent black mark is more conspicuous some seasons than 
others. 
Audubon and Bachman have seen young elk, on which the 
white patch of the rump appeared to be wanting till they were 
one or two years old. I have constantly looked for such speci- 
mens, but have failed to find one on which this mark was not 
conspicuous, as far off as the colors of the animal could be dis- 
tinguished, and I have been unable to detect any substantial 
difference in this regard between those of different ages. 
Our Elk, this Wapiti deer, is the only American species on 
which this white patch above the tail distinctly appears, and is 
well defined; and the European stag or red deer (C. elaphus), is 
the only European species, so far as I know, in which it is dis- 
tinctly defined as it is on the Wapiti, and on that it is less con- 
spicuous and more variable. We have several other ruminants 
in which this distinguishing mark is equally conspicuous, notable 
among which are our antelope (Antilocapra Americana), already 
treated of, and our Rocky Mountain sheep, or the Big Horn 
( Ovis montant). , 
Of the fugitive white colorings or spots which frequently ap- 
pear on the adult female Elk, I shall presently speak. 
I have already spoken of the deep black color in which the 
