Western Race 257 



correspondingly retarded. On the other hand, after a mild winter, or one 

 in which the supply of beech-mast has been plentiful, the summer change 

 is early, the gray being soon shed, and the red coat covering the greater 

 part of the animal by the middle of June, and sometimes even sooner. In 

 such years the blue dress is likewise donned at an early date, the change 

 being not unfrequently well advanced by the end of August. Whether the 

 red summer dress is retained for a longer period in the hotter States, I have 

 been unable to ascertain. 



Although naturally timid in the extreme, Virginian deer, when taken 

 very young, become exceedingly tame, and thrive well in confinement, 

 if allowed sufficient space, both in the United States and in England. 

 They breed readily, but in the United States, at least, display weakness of 

 reproductive power after a few generations. Mr. Caton observes that if 

 bucks are raised by hand, they are apt to become dangerous during the 

 pairing-season, and are consequently unsafe to be allowed to run at large ; 

 but if reared by their own mothers they never lose their instinctive fear of 

 man, and consequently never show the least disposition to attack him, or to 

 take food from his hand. This does not, however, accord with my experi- 

 ence of the numerous individuals kept at Woburn, where all exhibit 

 extreme familiarity, and will readily allow themselves to be handled. 

 Although allowed to run at complete liberty, they do not seem to associate 

 at all with other deer, and only to a limited extent among themselves. 

 One pair, for instance, frequent the neighbourhood of the house and stables, 

 where they will come up unhesitatingly to every visitor to be fed or 

 fondled ; while other pairs, or solitary individuals, take up their quarters in 

 some particular portion of the park, from which they seldom wander. 



b. Western Race — Mazama Americana macrura 



Cervus macrourus, Rafinesque, Amer. Month. Mag. vol. i. p. 436 (18 17). 



Cervus [Mazama) macrourus, H. Smith, in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, 

 vol. iv. p. 134, v. p. 316 (1827). 



Cervus leucurus, Douglas, Zoo/. "Journ. vol. iv. p. 330 (1829) ; Baird, 

 Mamm. N. America, p. 649 (1857) ; Caton, Antelope and Deer of America, 

 p. 100 (1877), as synonym of virginianus. 



2 L 



