58 



GREAT GAME ANIMALS. 



Cervus and resembles the American Deer, although distinguished 

 from the latter by the lateral metacarpal bones being represented 

 by the upper instead of the lower ends. The posterior branch of 

 the first fork of the antlers forms a loDg straight tine directed back- 

 wardsj but the front branch is again forked. In gait and general 

 appearance this species is very different from all other Old World 

 Deer. It is known in Europe from specimens kept in the Imperial 

 Park, Pekin ; its true habitat being unknown. The species is 

 represented in the collection by the mounted skin of a stag and 

 the head of a hind ; both presented by the Duke of Bedford. 



American Deer. All the groups of Deer peculiar to America 

 GenilS DorcelapllUS, resemble the Roebuck in the structure of the 

 or Qtlocoileus, &C. bones of the fore-feet, and are characterised by 

 [Cases ^ the form of their antlers, which have no representative of the brow- 

 58 & 59. j ^ ne 0 f Cervus, but may give off an upright snag some distance 

 above the base, after which they are regularly forked. Among the 

 members of the present genus some, like the Mule-Deer, Dorc- 

 elaphus hemionus (1305); have the two tines of this fork again 

 divided regularly, but in the White-tailed Deer, D. americanus, or 

 virginianus (1306) and its immediate relatives, only the first is thus- 

 forked. W r hen adult, the coat is uniformly coloured, but in some 

 species the young are spotted. The Black-tailed Deer, D. colum- 

 bianus (1307), of British Columbia is an allied species. In the sub- 

 genus Blastoceros, in which the direction of the hair on part of the 

 back is reversed, the Pampas or Guazuti Deer, D. (B.) bezoarticus 

 (1308), has the antlers with points, and the forked hind-tine much 

 more developed than the simple front-tine. The larger and more 

 northern Guazu,or Marsh -Deer, D. (B.) dichotomus (1309) , which is 

 found in Uruguay and South Brazil, has the antlers heavier and more 

 complex, both prongs of the main fork being strongly developed, 

 and each subdividing. Generally the hind-prong is stouter than the 

 front one. Whereas the Pampas-Deer is an inhabitant of open 

 plains, the Marsh-Deer frequents swamps and lakes, where it wallows 

 in the mud, or enters the water. The Pampas-Deer utters a kind 

 of whistle when alarmed, and the bucks exhale a strong odour. 

 The Gliemal Deer. The two species of Guemal, Xenelaphus bisulcus 

 Genus Xenelaphus, (1310) and X. antisiensis (1311), are medium- 

 or Hippocamelus. sized Deer confined to the Cordillera of the Andes 

 and Patagonia, and characterised by the single fork, of which the 



