NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 31 



THE SMALL DEER. 



Osceola's White-Tailed Deer, (Odocoilcus virginianus os- 

 ccola). is an interesting geographic race of the northern 

 White-Tailed Deer which forms the parent stem of a group 

 of six or seven subspecies. The robust and hardy northern 

 type, often with large and .strong antlers, graduallj' dimin- 

 ishes in size and in antlers, until in JMexico it becomes a 

 small and delicate creature, with very small and light antlers 

 bearing only two or three small tines. The next form has so 

 widely diverged from the original type that it is necessary 

 to accord it rank as a full species. 



The Sinaloa White-Tailed Deer, (Odocoilens sinaloae), is 

 still smaller and weaker than the preceding. The pair of 

 specimens shown were obtained by Mr. and Mrs. C. William 

 Beebe. in the State of Guadalajara, ^Mexico, and are highly 

 interesting as a link near the lower terminus of the Odocoi- 

 lens chain. On a majority of the antlers of this species 

 there are no branches whatever, but simply a weak main 

 beam, curving over at the tip. and terminating in a rounded 

 point. 



It should be noted here that the White-Tailed Deer group, 

 (Odocoileiis) , is very well represented in South America by 

 O. zceigiuaniii of the Guianas. 



The Marsh Deer, (Blastoceros paludosus), of eastern 

 South America, is the largest South American deer. Our 

 first specimen was obtained in 1904. Its antlers are strong- 

 Ij' built but short, and in architecture resemble the antlers 

 of a Siamese species known as Schomburgk's Deer (Cervus 

 schonibitrgki) -. but the latter has on each beam three double 

 bifurcations, while the former has but two. The Marsh 

 Deer has very large, wide-spreading hoofs, which it would 

 seem have been developed by many generations of existence 

 on soft ground. It inhabits the jungles along river banks, 

 in Brazil. The head of this animal is of remarkable length. 



This important species is rather weak in captivity, and it 

 is by no means certain that it can constantly be exhibited 

 here. There is another South American species, (Blastoceros 

 campestris), which is a zoological understudy, or miniature, 

 of the large Marsh Deer. 



The Black-Faced Brocket, (Mazama tenia), ivhenever it 

 can be obtained, will represent a group of American deer 

 which is as little kno'wn in the United States as if it in- 

 habited the heart of Borneo. The Brockets are smaller 



