MAMMALIA. 259 
This, like the preceding species, does not, on the east side of the Rocky 
Mountains, range further north than latitude 54°, nor is it found in that parallel 
to the eastward of the 105th degree of longitude. Mr. Douglas informs us that 
it is “ the most common deer of any in the districts adjoining the river Columbia, 
more especially in the fertile prairies of the Cowalidske and Multnomah Rivers, 
within one hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. It is also occasionally met with 
near the base of the Rocky Mountains on the same side of that ridge. Its 
favourite haunts are the coppices, composed of Corylus, Rubus, Rosa, and 
Amelanchier, on the declivities of the low hills or dry undulating grounds. Its 
gait is two ambling steps and a bound, exceeding double the distance of the steps; 
which mode it does not depart from even when closely pursued. In running the 
tail is erect, wagging from side to side, and from its unusual length is the most 
remarkable feature about the animal. The voice of the male calling the female, 
is like the sound produced by blowing in the muzzle of a gun or in a hollow cane. 
The voice of the female calling the young is me mw, pronounced shortly. 
This is well imitated by the native tribes, with a stem of Heraclewm lanatum, cut 
at a joint, leaving six inches of a tube. With this, aided by a head and horns of 
a fall grown buck, which the hunter carries with him as a decoy, and which he 
moves backwards and forwards among the long grass, alternately feigning the 
voice with the tube, the unsuspecting animal is attracted within a few yards in the 
hope of finding its partner, when instantly springing up the hunter plants an 
arrow in his object. The flesh is excellent when in good order, and remarkably 
tender and well flavoured.” ‘They go in herds from November to April and 
May, when the female secretes herself to bring forth. The young are spotted 
with white until the middle of the first winter, when.they change to the same 
colour as the most aged.” | 
Lewis and Clark say of it—‘‘ The common red deer inhabit the Rocky 
Mountains, in the neighbourhood of the Chopunnish, and about the Columbia, 
and down the river as low as where the tide-water commences. They do not 
differ essentially from those of the United States, being the same in shape, size, 
and appearance. The tail is, however, different, which is of unusual length, far 
exceeding that of the common deer. Captain Lewis measured one, and found it 
to be seventeen inches long.” In another passage they remark, “ the common 
fallow deer with long tails, though very poor, are better than the black-tailed 
fallow deer of the coast, from which they differ materially.” As these intelligent 
travellers have remarked, this deer approaches very near to the Cervus virginianus 
in all its characters, and may eventually prove to be only a variety. 
2L2 
