198 BULLETIN 56, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



young fawns in a herd of ten mule deer November 25, 1884, on Ash 

 Creek, central Arizona. A large fawn, whose horns were appearing 

 through the skin, was killed December 29, 1885, at Fort Verde, Ari- 

 zona. Its mother was also shot and her udder was filled with milk. 

 On the Mexican Border I saw a herd of does and. fawns of the season 

 at Monument No. 64, at the lower timber line of San Luis Moun- 

 tains, June 29, 1892. But, as mentioned, these data fail to fix exactly 

 the period during which the young are usually born. 



Owing to the gentleness or stupidity of the mule deer and the open- 

 ness of the country that it occupies, this fine deer is perhaps doomed 

 to an early extinction, in view of which deplorable probability I will 

 give its Arizona range, as known to me in the eighties, with more 

 detail than would be otherwise required. Major Bendire's command 

 killed 196 deer, the majority of them 0. couesi, on hunting trips from 

 Camp Lowell, Arizona, in the autumn of 1872. 'Wlien I reached Fort 

 Verde in March, 1884, the white-tailed deer had entirely disappeared 

 from that region, although a few remained in oak and juniper woods 

 on the rim of Bloody Basin, between forts Verde and McDowell ; but 

 mule deer were numerous from 1884 to 1888 in the valleys and low 

 mesas from November to April, and very abundant in the forested 

 mountains during the remainder of the year. The range included 

 the entire area drained by the Verde Valley; and I saw them on 

 every important tributary as far south as Bloody Basin. Hunting 

 parties of soldiers sent out from Fort Verde frequently returned. with 

 wagon or pack train loaded with mule deer, antelope, and turkeys; 

 but a diminution in the amount of game was apparent before I left 

 the Territory in 1888. North and west of the Verde Valley I find 

 mention of this deer in my notes at the following-named points in 

 Arizona : Hutchinson's horse ranch, on the divide between the Verde 

 and Agua Fria valleys ; Ash Creek, Agua Fria Valley ; Squaw Peak ; 

 Black Hills; near Prescott, on Lynch Creek, and at Point of Eocks, 

 on Granite Creek; Hells Canyon; Ash Fork; Stones Lake, Black 

 Tanks, Cataract Creek; Colorado Canyon, between Cataract Creek 

 and Pine Springs; at Pine Springs; Colorado Eiver at Vitz's Cross- 

 ing; through the San Francisco forest; at Flagstajff; and on San 

 Francisco Mountain, where we found it ranging to the highest aspen 

 timber in early June, 1887, and were informed that its range extends 

 to the upper timber line, and that it sometimes crossed the highest 

 notches of the mountain. It was still abundant around Flagstaff. 

 East and south of the Verde it was noted as follows : On the MogoUon 

 Mesa, at Rattlesnake Tanks; Stonemans Lake; Pine Springs; 

 Wood's Ranch; Quaking Asp Settlement; on the heads of Oak, 

 Clear, Fossil, Sycamore, Pine, East Fork, and Turbine creeks; at 



