170 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 06 



colonies exist in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and elsewhere. This 

 deer is albout the size of a Maryland white-tailed deer, but with large 

 palmate antlers which are directed upward. In summer pelage, the 

 coloration is fawn, with numerous white spots; in winter, a uniform 

 grayish (although melanism and albinism are not infrequent). Miller 

 (1912, pp. 971-972) gives external measurements of a European adult 

 male of this species as : Head and body length 1540; tail 190 ; hind foot 

 (with hoof) 435 ; ear from crown 165. 



WHITE-TAILED DEER 



Odocoileus virginianus borealis Miller 



Odocoileus americamm horealis Miller, Bull. New York State Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., 8 : 83, 21 November 1900. 



Type locality. — Bucksport, Haneock County, Maine- 



General distribution. — "Western Ontario, east across southern Quebec, New 

 Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; and from near James Bay (Newport, Abitibi 

 River), Gaspe Peninsula, and Anticosti Island south to southern Maryland, 

 southern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Southern boundaries fixed 

 at Potomac and Ohio rivers and the western limits at the Mississippi and Red 

 Rivers." (Kellogg, 1956, p. 40) . 



Distribution in Maryhmd. — At one time the white-tailed deer was 

 nearly extirpated in Maryland. Today it is common in all sections of 

 the State, and is found in the wilder areas of every county. 



Distinguishing characteristics. — Size large, larger than sika deer; 

 antlers heavy, and main beam directed forward, bearing the several 

 tines behind ; upper parts of body colored reddish brown in summer 

 and grayish in winter, unspotted except in juveniles; underparts and 

 underside of tail white ; juvenile animals are reddish yellow and spotted 

 with white. 



MeasureTJient. — Kellogg (1956, p. 40) gives external measurements 

 of the largest male of this subspecies that he examined as : Total length 

 2400; tail 365; hind foot 538; height at shoulder 1041. Two adult 

 males from Cumberland, Allegany County, have the following cranial 



measurements: Condylobasal length , 261.8; width of orbit at 



frontojugal suture 129.7, 120.9 ; least interorbital breadth 74.2 ; length 

 of maxillary toothrow 71.8, 72.5. Females average smaller than males 

 in size. 



Flyger (1958, p. 8) says that the average weight of 47 adult male 

 deer from western Maryland was 127.5 pounds, and 17 from Worcester 

 County averaged 125.4 pounds, whereas 6 from the Aberdeen Proving 

 Grounds in Harford County averaged only 104.2 pounds. Wherever 

 the deer popidation becomes so great that a scarcity of food results, 

 the size and weight of the deer in that area become markedly reduced. 



