Mule-Deer 275 



eat the tops of the sage-brush. They only venture on to the prairie at 

 night to enjoy the superior grass there, but in a wooded or broken country 

 they may be seen feeding at any hour of the day, more especially if the 

 night has been stormy. Although their true home is in the " bad-lands," 

 they seek shelter from snowstorms in woods, leaving them again as soon as 

 the sky clears, and I have found the big pine- and cedar-thickets a certain 

 haunt in wintry weather. These they will not leave if they discover that 

 they are being followed, but circle round and round, returning to the 

 place from which they started and traversing impenetrable brakes through 

 which a horse cannot be led. At such times they chiefly trot, and the 

 noise of their feet can be heard in the frozen snow like the ticking of a 

 clock. I never heard of an unwounded mule-deer being killed by wolves, 

 which, in my opinion could not catch it. A wounded deer, however, is at 

 once devoured by them. On the other hand, I know several instances 

 of these deer being killed by pumas. 



When I first went to Montana, in 1889, mule-deer were so exceedingly 

 plentiful as to excite surprise, but now, 1897, tn d r numbers have been 

 much reduced by the professional hunters, who shoot them down in 

 hundreds, and evade the laws by shipping the hind-quarters out of the 

 State under fictitious names, calling them poultry, mutton, etc., and leaving 

 the fore-quarters for the wolves. This mercenary chase of mule-deer is 

 only pursued during the pairing-season, because the meat would not keep 

 before that period. 



Several American-bred specimens of mule-deer have been from time to 

 time exhibited in the London Zoological Gardens, and from these a large 

 number of fawns have been produced in the menagerie. Some time ago 

 there was a pair at Woburn Abbey, but they survived only for a short 

 period. 



a. Typical Race — Mazama hemionus typica 



Cervus macrotis montanus, Caton, Antelope and Deer of America, 2nd ed. 

 p. 94 (1881). 



Characters. — General coloration that described above, of a full dark 

 tint ; tail yellowish white, with a jet-black terminal tuft. 



Distribution. — The greater part of the area of the species, exclusive of 

 that occupied by the other sub-species. 



