THE VIRGINIA DEER. 



457 



to grow about April and have on the outside, a growth of cutis 

 covered with short hairs and filled with blood vessels. By August 

 the antlers of a bull in his prime may reach a length of five feet 

 each. At this time the velvet becomes dead and is rubbed off by 

 thrashing against trees. During the fall and winter the antlers 

 are bare and in late winter they are shed, coming off at a rounded 

 knob called the "burr," near the base. Males of the second sum- 

 mer have straight unbranched antlers. A tine is added each year 

 until there are six, though some may be deformed or lacking. 



Next to the bison, the elk disappeared more rapidly before civili- 

 zation thany any of our game animals. The causes of extermination 

 are practically the same for both animals. Their great size ren- 

 dered them noteworthy objects of the chase. Their gregarious 

 habits made it easy to kill large numl>ers when a herd was located, 

 and the early settlers had no thought of preserving the game which 

 was then so abundant. Added to this was a certain sort of stupidity 

 which often allowed them to stand fearlessly while the entire herd 

 was shot down. They are also less nocturnal than other deer and 

 while preferring rough ground, they do not hide away in dense 

 thickets as the Virginia deer does. 



Genus Odocoileus Rafinesque. 

 Dental Formula.— I, C, Pm, |-^; M, f^ = 32. 



Generic characters. — Antlers, always less than thirty inches in 

 length; the tips curved forward and inward and the tines directed 

 upward ; first tine some distance above the base. 



This genus is confined to North America. One species with sev- 

 eral geographic races is found east of the Mississippi. To the west 

 there are other species. 



ODOCOILEUS yiRGINIANUS (Boddaert). 

 VIRGINIA DEER. 



Cervus virgi)iiamis Boddaert, Elenchus Animalum, p. 136, 1784. 

 Cervus dama america^ms Erxleben, Syst. Regn. Animal, Vol. I, 

 p. 312, 1777. 



Cariaciis virginiafius Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. 



Sci. for 1893, p. 135, 1894. 

 Odocoileus americanus Miller and Rehn, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 



Hist., vol. 30, p. 14, 1901. 

 Odocoileus virginianus Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc, Washington, 



Vol. 12, p. 100, 1898. 



