CERVID^ 53 



cold climates such antlers freeze and the points are often broken 

 off. I have seen a set of these abnormal antlers from a Cali- 

 fornia Mule Deer killed in Riverside County, in which none ot 

 the points appeared to have been broken off, but none were of 

 greater length than the ears. 



The fawns appear tO' be dropped principally in July. Twins 

 are frequent. The hearing ^ keen. The sight is comparatively 

 poor. The scent is delicate and acute and is depended on nearly 

 as much as the hearing for warning. 



Odocoileus columbianus Richardson. (Of the Colum- 

 bia River.) 



BLACK-TAILED DEER. 



Size similar to that of the White-tailed Deer and scarcely 

 larger than the California Mule Deer; antlers similar to those 

 of the Mule Deer; tail longer than that of the Mule Deer and 

 considerably broader, covered with hair underneath, the under 

 side white, the upper side brown on the basal half, and dull black 

 on the remainder; naked strip of metatarsal gland (on outside 

 of hind leg), two or three inches long; ear smaller than that of 

 the Mule Deer; body and legs short. Winter pelage; above gray, 

 more or less tawny, darker on the upper side of the neck ; a dark 

 streak on the under side of the neck, becoming black oni the 

 breast, shading tO' brown on the belly; between the thighs is a 

 white area extending to the tail. Summer pelage; above yellow- 

 ish red or dull reddish brown. 



Type locality, the lower Columbia River. 



The "Black-tailed Fallow Deer" as they called it was first 

 described by Lewis and Clark in the report on their memorable 

 Expedition. The range of the Black-tailed Deer is from the 

 northern Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains to the Pacific 

 Ocean, north to British Columbia. 



Townsend says that the Black-tailed Deer in northern Cali- 

 fornia migrate, leaving the foothills in spring and going high in 



