MAMMALS OF UTAH 15 



After a few days the calf wanders with its mother, 

 who, however, still hides it in times of danger; but by 

 October the youngster is able to forage for itself. 



Elk wallows are accredited to the bulls, who enjoy the 

 mud as much as a hog ; but a dozen or more, cows and bulls, 

 have been seen wallowing together, apparently for mere 

 amusement. At times elk have been seen in a sort of circle 

 dance, twenty or more of them running around in a ring 

 for a half hour or more with no object, perhaps, except 

 the fun of the game. 



The crowning glory of the stag is his antlers, which are 

 grown afresh each summer. Each March they break off at 

 the base an inch or more above the skull. Within three 

 days afterward the raw spots have become velvety bulbs of 

 skin gorged with blood; and in two weeks are soft antlers 

 several inches high, hot with blood vessels. In four months 

 the antlers are once more complete, and the velvet begins to 

 peel off. 



It is said that any injury, any sickness, even a cold, 

 affects the size of the antlers ; in fact the horns each year 

 reflect the vicissitudes of their owner while growing them. 

 Each season the horns increase in size until the sixth, when 

 they decline year after year until the end. The fallen 

 horns are eaten by mice, gophers, rats and porcupines. 



With antlers perfect and bodies trim the bulls descend 

 from the mountains in the autumn and as soon as the cows 

 are sighted the world-famous bugling begins. Each big 

 bull takes his cow, seeks an. eminence and trumpets his de- 

 fiance to the world. The tones resemble somewhat the bray 

 of a jackass. 



Young bulls do not bugle but whistle. Hence if in an- 

 swer to a young bull's note, there comes through the glen 

 the clear bugle call of an old stag, the young bull imme- 

 diately pushes his cows along with his horns until he has 

 them hidden from the enemy. 



WESTERN WHITE-TAILED DEER 



ODOCOILEUS VIRGINIANUS MACROURUS (Rafinesque) 



Orvus macrourus Rafin., Amer. Month. Mag., 1817, p. 436. 

 Cervus leucurus Dougl., Zool. Journ., iv, 1829, p. 330. 

 Odocoileus americanus macrourus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. 

 F. C. M. Pub., 11, 1901, p. 39. 



Description — The prevailing color of this species in the 

 fall of the year is a yellowish gray, clouded and waved with 

 black caused by the dusky tips of the hairs. This color is 



