NORTH AMERICAN RUMINANTS 



obtained by the Stone expedition; they have been mounted 

 in a group, with appropriate accessories, brought from 

 Alaska/ 



The Deer constituting the genus Odocoileus are much smaller, 

 more graceful and more delicately formed than the Caribou and 

 Moose. They arc typically represented by the com- 

 mon eastern or Virginia Deer, and are very numerous irgima 

 in species ami subspecies, many of which arc quite 

 restricted in distribution. Those of the United States fall into 

 three groups, commonly known as White-tailed Deer, Mule Deer 

 and Black-tailed Deer. The White-tailed Deer embrace the Vir- 

 ginia Deer and its related sul (Species, of which four or five are 

 now currently recognized, which differ from one another in size 

 and in minor details of coloration. The Deer, like many other 

 animals, decrease notably in general size, and in the size of the 

 antlers, from the north southward, and are thus separable into 

 well-marked races; the Florida Deer, for example, being not 

 much more than half as heavy as the Deer found in Maine and 

 New Brunswick. Another form of the group is found on the 

 plains, another in Texas and still another in Louisiana. 



The Mule Deer, so called from the large size of the ears. 

 occupy the middle region of the continent from Canada to Mex- 

 ico, but are typically represented by the form found in 

 the Dakotas. There are other subspecies in Manitoba, 

 California, Sonora, Mexico and the islands off the coast of Cali- 

 fornia. 



The Black-tailed Deer, found only on the Pacific slope- from 



California northward to Sitka, are represented by a series of 



\( irms. On comparing specimens from Sitka with 



those from Southern California, the differences in size. .. , * c 



tailed Deer. 



and color are very striking. 



Besides the Deer already mentioned, five species of this genus 

 1 in Mexico. In comparison with the Virginia Deer they 

 mall, with the antlers greatly dimin- 

 ished, being, in fact, miniature representatives of the exican 

 more northern forms of the genus. In Costa Rica 

 there is another t\ ; mall Deer, in which the antler 



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