1841.] true Stag, or Elaphoid form of Cervus. 741 



abundance nearly throughout their route, and pretty high up the moun- 

 tains ; and they state it to be '' common in every part of the country, 

 as well in the timbered lands as in the plains, though much more 

 numerous in the former." Hunter, in the interesting " Memoirs" of his 

 youth, passed among different (so called) Indian tribes, asserts that 

 " they are small, far south, but increase in size in the neighbourhood of 

 the mountains." He also mentions, that they are very large about the 

 Columbia. In the States, the distribution eastward of this species is 

 limited by the settlements, in the vicinity of which it fast disappears as 

 they become populous ; having been extirpated more than a dozen years 

 in Illinois,* while Dr. Godman (in 1826) writes, that " it is still oc- 

 casionally found in the remote and thinly settled parts of Pennsylvania, 

 but the number is small ; and it is only in the western wilds that they 

 occur in considerable herds."! 



Dr. Richardson describes this species to be "pretty numerous amongst 

 the clumps of wood that skirt the plains of the Saskatchewan, where 

 they live in small families of six or seven individuals :" the males, 

 according to Dr. Harlan, attaching themselves to the females, and 

 the members of each troop being strongly united. Colonel Smith also 

 mentions, that " they are said to live in small families of six or seven 

 individuals, headed by an old male, who is reported to be monoga- 

 mous ; the rest, besides the hind, being calves or semi-adults." I have 

 met with no account of the sexes ever herding separately : but Hearne 

 asserts, that " they generally keep in large herds, and, when they find 

 plenty of pasture, remain a long time in one place ;" so, also, Umfreville 

 relates, of his " Red Deer," which is clearly this species, though C. 

 Virginianus is often so termed in the States, *' They are very common 

 in all parts of the country, and they assemble in herds ; it is not 

 unusual to find 500 or 600 of them in a place ; but they are not to 

 be met with on the open plains, where the Buffaloes [American 

 BisonsJ] resort." The same is noticed in Keating's " Narrative of an 



* Featherstonehough's Journal. 



f American Natural History, 

 X The term Buffalo is often vaguely applied by persons not naturalists, to any 

 animal bearing a general resemblance to an Ox, but which is obviously distinct from 

 an Ox. Thus, when English graziers talk of having seen a Buffalo, it will generally be 

 found that the large or Brahminee breed of Zebus, or Indian humped cattle, is 

 intended ; and in North America the Bison of that continent is thus termed (as above 



