Rocky Mountains. 10.3 



hunting, wherein he had been very successful. In the pre- 

 ceding autumn he had killed seventy deer, and fifty bears. 

 He took great pleasure in relating his huntirg adventures, 

 particularly his engagements with bears. One bear, which 

 he had killed, he said, weighed seven hundred pounds ; but 

 in this instance he was probably mistaken. He had seen, in 

 the winter of 1818, a large herd of bisons near the Grand 

 Pass ; but they had been driven down by the severity of the 

 weather, and were not ordinarily to be found within the 

 limits of his hunting excursions. During the severe wintry 

 weather, he affirmed that bears make for themselves a shel- 

 ter of brushwood, into which they creep to secure them- 

 selves from the cold. 



From May until July the female of the common deer 

 conceals her young whilst she goes to feed It is at this time 

 that the hunters take advantage of the maternal feelings of 

 the animal to secure their prey. They conceal themselves 

 and imitate the cry of the fawn. The solicitude of the parent 

 animal for her young overcomes her usual care for her own 

 safety; and believing she hears the cries of her offspring in 

 distress, she hurries toward the spot where the hunter lies 

 concealed, and falls an easy prey.* 



Mr. Say and his companions were very politely received 



* A variety of this species, the Cervus Virginianus, three specimens of 

 which occurred at Engineer cantonment, had all the feet white near the 

 hoofs, and extending: to them on the hind part from a little above the spu- 

 rioushoofs. This white extremity was divided upon the sides of the foot by 

 the general colour of the leg, which extended down near to the hoof, leav- 

 ing a white triangle in front, of which the point was elevated rather high- 

 er than the spurious hoofs. The black mark upon the lower lip, rather 

 behind the middle of the sides, was strongly noted — 



Total length, exclusive of hair, at tip of tail, ft. 



Ear, from the upper part of the head, 



Tail, from lateral base, exclusive of the hair, 



Hind foot, from tip of os calcis to tip of toe, 



Fore arm, 



Weight, in February, U5lbs. 



This species, common as it is, was never figured, nor indeed very well 

 described, until the year 1819, when it appeared in the valuable work of 

 Messrs. Geoffroy and F. Cuvier (Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, 2nd liv.) 



