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THE MULE DEER. 181 
the color on the legs. The tail is seven inches in length, 
round, and covered with short white hair, like the tail of a 
pointer dog; the extreme tip, for about an inch, has black 
hair of about two inches in length. The tail is carried pen- 
dant, and not erect, in running. 
The metatarsal gland (which in the common deer is about 
an inch long) is six inches in length and fringed with hair 
two inches in length. The ears have a line of brownish 
black on the edge, and are lined with long whitish hair. The 
horns spread wider, some measuring twenty-four inches be- 
tween the tips in front, but otherwise have the general form 
of those of the common deer, but the points are bifurcated ; 
and sometimes have as many as three and four branches. 
The hoofs are black, and not so sharp or pointed as the com- 
mon deer, resembling more in form the hoofs of the Wapiti. 
This description is made from specimens in my possession 
and from those that I have seen on the Plains, and differs 
somewhat from that of Prof. Baird. I am inclined to think 
that his description of the hoof was made from a specimen 
that had become dry and contracted at the base, or else of a 
young animal. 
This deer is found from the north of New Mexico to the 
Saskatchewan, and from the Missouri to the Cascade Moun- 
tains. Its flesh is very fine eating, esteemed by many supe- 
rior to that of the common deer. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Total length from ti TT T 
p of nose aa: " bes: i * 
to tip of tail, . We I th, AP I E 
High xi ahy nos S Length of tail, KT 
f pelvis, . 8 6 suborbital eun. š 1 
Girth beat, praesent 8 4 s“ hate gla 6 
Girth o of neck, e 110 m 
Length of fore -- from d gland, ko s 
of hoof to olecra 20 Length of fore ek ico MA 
: read it e les ph hoot | hind hoof, - 3 
T Greatest — of fore hoof, 1i 
| Length of : n hind hoof, . 14 
1 
Width a aha. 8 an: of false hoof, .  - 

