Juke 15, 1895.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
486 
ground color of the anis, but more firm and not ao easily 
scratched or rubbed off. This overlaying film gives these 
eggs sometimes a very pale yellow tint and a moderately 
glossy appearance. 
The average measurement of 101 egg's in the United 
States National Museum collection is 39.12x29.97 milli- 
meters, or 1.54xl-18in. The largest eger of the series 
measures 44.45x29.97 millimeters, or 1.75xl.l8in.; the 
smallest, 36.07x28.19 millimeters, or 1.42xl.llin. 
THE DEER OF WESTERN TEXAS. 
found than is given by the laws now in force, the species 
is doomed to speedy extinction. 
As exemplify ing what has been done within the State, 
and what is still going on in the way of deer butchery, let 
me note that some two years ago I met and conversed with 
a man in San Antonio who informed me that he was one 
of a company organized for the purpose of killing and 
shipping deer to maket. Up to the time when I talked 
with him, he said the concern had killed and shipped 
more than 2,000 deer, mostly of this species; and he re- 
marked that they were more easily found and. killed than 
the other kind. 
nose alert for any danger that may befall, or feeds around, 
never going very far from them. 
Their enemies at this time, in this State, are chiefly the 
short-tailed lynx and the coyote, and should one of these 
come near we are satisfied that the mother attacks and 
drives it away, that is when the enemy comes singly. We 
are led to this conclusion from having observed in domes- 
tication how readily the doe falls upon any single dog 
which may come too near her fawns, attacking by spring- 
ing upon and striking him with her forefeet, and some- 
times even butting with her head after the manner of a 
sheep. 
Some tribes of Indians have availed themselves of the 
solicitude of the deer at this time for the safety of their 
young by the use of an instrument," fashioned from a short 
piece of the small hollow end of a cow's horn, and which 
is almost an exact counterpart of the mouthpiece and a 
short section of a clarionet. This device, when blown, 
makes a sound almost exactly like the cry of the fawn 
when in distress, and the Indian, or we should say hun- 
ter — for we have seen the device used by white men — has 
only to conceal himself near where be thinks the young 
lie, and to make the sound, to lure the dam to her sure de- 
struction. Should the enemy prove too strong for the 
dam, or the young be suddenly aroused by some intruder, 
the fawns instantly rush off in flight followed by the dam, 
and it is an astonishing thing to see what a great degree 
of speed the little ones are capable of showing even when 
very young. 
Some think that a fawn three or four months old is 
swifter than a grown deer. It is a fact well known to 
stockmen, that the calf of the same age is much swifter 
than the cow, and the faculty may have been given to 
each, at this tender age, for their more complete pro- 
tection. 
This habit of concealing the fawns is kept up for a month 
or more, and is gradually abandoned as the young in- 
crease in size and follow the dam more, and af terward by 
degrees they assume the habits of the grown deer. 
Of all wild animals with which we are acquainted, the 
young of this species is the easiest to domesticate. We 
know of no others showing this trait in such a marked 
degree. We have seen the young deer brought out of the 
woods carried upon the hunter's saddle before him, 
having been picked up from its hiding place almost with- 
out resistance — probably not twenty-four hours old — and 
being put down in the yard it would follow the first 
passer-by with the dolicity of a dog. 
Markings. 
The spots appear on the coats of the young of all the 
American cervidoz, less marked and more faded, seem- 
ingly pointing to a gradual disappearance in the case of 
the moose and reindeer. For a long time I was puzzled 
to reconcile the gaudy and apparently conspicuous deck- 
ing of these inoffensive young animals with the general 
care and wisdom of nature in closely assimilating the 
colors of nearly all creatures to their surroundings; but 
happening to read one day the published letter of an 
officer of the British army, a sportsman in India, the 
matter was placed before me in a new light. His 
statement was, that of all the wild animals hunted 
in India the tiger and leopard were the most difficult to 
detect in the jungle when lying still, and especially so 
when the sun was shining. The checkered spots of sun- 
light and shade, falling down through the leaves and 
bushes, harmonized and blended with the colors of the 
animals so as to confuse the eyesight and cause one to 
overlook the object sought for. May not nature have 
given the young of these animals these spots as a means 
for their protection? 
It is curious to note that the spots are sometimes found 
upon the adult animals, not white in color, but of some 
shades lighter than the rest of the body. We have never 
' seen them upon the stags, but only upon does. Judge 
Oaton inclines to the opinion that all the American deer 
have had one common origin, and were once spotted like 
the fallow deer of Europe. 
The fawns carry the spots until the shedding and chang- 
ing of the coat in the early fall, when the young animal 
assumes the coat and color of the adult. 
The fawns are weaned at about four months of age, but 
continue to follow the dam — the males for one year and 
the females for two years. 
These two species of deer shed and renew their coats 
twice a year — once in the early fall, just before the com- 
mencement of the rutting season, and again in the spring 
of the year, when the warm weather has asserted itself. 
The coat of Cervus virginianus in the fall is of a dark bluish 
gray at first, gradually changing to a lighter gray as the 
season advances. In the spring he assumes a coat which 
in color varies, in different individuals, from a bay red to 
a buff yellow. 
The coat of Cervus i maerotis in the fall is of a darker 
gray color, but also becomes in time lighter; and in 
the spring is of a pale, dull yellow. 
Food. 
The food of deer in western Texas is very varied, and em- 
braces the leaves of nearly all the shrubs indigenous to 
this locality and the nutritious seed pods of the various 
leguminous trees and shrubs so numerous here. They are 
especially fond of and become very fat by feeding upon 
the pods of the mesquite tree, and are also very partial to 
all varieties of acorns. Grass we do not think they affect 
much, unless it is young, tender and succulent, when they 
seek it with avidity. When they can have access to such 
places, they will go miles away to raid melon and sweet 
potato fields. 
In some parts of the State there are localities where, 
thank heaven, the skin-hunter can never exterminate 
them. The vast and almost impenetrable cactus thickets 
offer a refuge where, although no water is to be found, 
the ripened fruit and tender shoots of this remarkable 
plant supply both food and drink. Here they are per- 
fectly independent of water, and here they will survive 
longer than anywhere else. 
The common species, according to our observation, 
breed freely under domestication, where the range is not 
too much restricted and where they have an abundance of 
proper food. Under favorable conditions, as far as we 
have experienced, they seem to be almost as hardy, as 
prolific and as omnivorous as goats, and when allowed to 
run in a yard often display the same depraved taste for 
out-of-the-way articles of diet. 
Among the deer owned by my family in Mississippi 
there was one which never failed to chew up and spoil all 
Habits and Peculiarities, and the Best Means 
of Preservation and Protection. 
BY A. Y. WALTON. 
The object of this paper is to treat of the habits and 
peculiarities of the two species of deer found in western 
Texas; to touch upon the interesting differences in 
form, size and color occurring among the more com- 
mon of the two species, and to discuss the means for their 
better preservation and protection. 
The deer of western Texas consist of two species — the 
Cervus maerotis, commonly but erroneously called black- 
tailed deer, and the Cervus virginianus, or common deer 
of America. 
A third species, once to be found in the northern and 
northwestern parts of the State, along the Eed River and 
its tributaries — the most stately and noblest of all the deer 
tribe — the Cervus canadensis, commonly known as elk, is 
now extinct and no longer to be found within the 
limits of the State. 
We have never been able to find out by inquiry how 
far south in Texas this species once ranged. We are in- 
clined to doubt whether it ever at any time affected the 
open plains of the State; but as it still survives in small 
numbers in the Sacramento Mountains just across the 
Texas line in Southern .New Mexico, we think it safe to 
conclude that it was formerly found in localities similar 
and near by within the borders of this State. 
At present we know of none within the State. Some 
few were killed in the year 1864 or 1865 in what is 
called the "Big Thicket" in eastern Texas, and it may be 
that some few still survive in its more remote and little 
known depths of cane-brakes and hammocks. 
Going back to the first two species spoken of, we will 
treat first of the Cervus maerotis, the large-eared deer, 
properly mule deer — erroneously called black-tailed deer. 
(The true black-tailed deer is the Cervus columbianus, 
which is found in a narrow belt along the Pacific coast of 
America, in the temperate zone, and has never been 
known east of the Rocky Mountains.) 
Our knowledge of the mule deer has been acquired 
more from inquiry among hunters and stockmen, and ob- 
servation of individuals — in domestication as well as ex- 
amination of those offered in market — than from any 
extended or close acquaintance with the species in a wild 
state. 
We quote the following description: "Larger than 
the common deer, and coarser in build. Color, dark gray. 
Antlers only on the male. They are once or twice, and 
sometimes thrice, bifurcated. Tail short, small, round, 
white, terminating with a tuft of long black hairs; naked 
on the under side. Metatarsal gland very large and long. 
Tarsal gland present. Hoofs black. No white hairs about 
the feet or the metatarsal gland. A white section oppo- 
site and below the tail." 
"This deer was first discovered by Lewis and Clarke on 
the 18th of September, 1804, on the Missouri River, in 
north latitude 42°, and was called by them black-tailed 
deer. By this name they often mention it, until the 31st 
day of May, 1805. when Captain Clarke, in enumerating 
the animals found on the Columbia River below the falls, 
calls it the mule deer. On the 30th of August, 1806, near 
wjjere they first saw this deer in 1804, they procured a 
specimen to bring home, and called it the mule deer. The 
excessive development of the ears well justified them in 
the name which they gave it." 
We think we are safe in saying that we can take the 
Pecos River as the eastern limit of this species in western 
Texas. Some instances have occurred where they have 
been killed to the east of that stream, as on Devil's 
River; but the general opinion seems to be that their main 
habitat in the State lies along the Pecos and to the west 
of it. 
Southward, in Mexico, we have been able to trace them 
in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Zacatecas. How 
much further south they exist we are unable to say, and 
it remains an interesting question, yet to be solved, whether 
or not in their extreme southern limit in Mexico they 
merge into and become identical with the type found on 
the Peninsula of Lower California — possessing all the 
indicia of mule deer, but very dwarfed in size, and with 
spike antlers of an average length of about only 6in. It is 
interesting to note here that by the Mexicans they are 
called bourri, from their resemblance to the bourro. 
The marked differences between this species and the 
common one are: superior size and coarser build, much 
larger ears, darker gray color, the persistent tuft of black 
hairs on the end of the tail, and the tendency of the 
antlers to a more lofty growth, and to be more bifur- 
cated. There is also a very marked difference in the run- 
ning gait of the two species. The Cervus maerotis does 
not possess the long, bounding, gracef ul leap of the other 
species. "They do not run, in a proper sense, but when 
in haste they bound along, all the feet striking and leav- 
ing the ground at once, very much after the manner of a 
frightened sheep." These differences, with the very 
marked inequality in the length and size of the metatarsal 
gland, very clearly indicate the distinctions between the 
two species. 
In Texas this animal seems to be a mountain haunting 
and loving creature, preferring to keep more to the rough, 
broken foothills and higher ranges than to the open coun- 
try. There is apparently no difference in the excellence 
of the venison of the two, and we are even inclined to be- 
lieve that the flesh of the mule deer is, if anything, pref- 
erable to that of the other, as they are more inclined to 
become excessively fat in the early fall. 
They are not so timid and inclined to conceal them- 
selves as the other species, and under fire are more apt to 
become confused, when they do not immediately locate 
whence danger comes. 
Unfortunately all this aid in their destruction, and 
conduces the more strongly to their extermination, and 
unless some more effective means of protection is soon 
The other species of deer of which we shall treat is the 
Certms inrginianus, or common deer of America, found 
more or less abundantly all over North America, and 
ranging from far north in Canada to far south in Mex- 
ico. 
Description: "Smaller than Cervus maerotis, about the 
size of Cervus columbianus, with longer legs and longer 
body; head lean and slim; nose pointed and naked; eyes 
large and lustrous; ears small and trim; antlers have a 
spreading posterior projection, and then curve anteriorly, 
with posterior tines; neck long and slender; body long for 
size; tail long and lanceolate in form; legs straight and 
long. Metatarsal gland small and below middle of leg. 
Tarsal gland present. Summer coat from bay red to buff 
yellow. Winter coat a leaden gray, greatly variant. De- 
ciduous antlers, and confined to males." 
In former years— up to 1856, if we are not mistaken — 
the species was extremely abundant all over southern and 
western Texas, and seemed then to partake more of the 
gregarious habit of antelope, in going in more or less 
large bands — a habit which they have apparently great- 
ly abandoned in late years. This can easily be accounted 
for when we take into consideration the presence of cat- 
tle men on their open ranges. They naturally would be- 
come wilder, more prone to seek hiding places in the 
brush and timbered bottoms and to be broken up and scat- 
tered into smaller bands. 
In early days, owing to the yearly burning off of the 
prairies, all the country around San Antonio was an open 
plain, devoid of brush, and was a famous deer range. Old 
Mexicans, born and raised at the missions and now passed 
away, have told us of the thousands of deer to be seen 
in very early times between San Antonio and the Medina 
River. They continued to be very abundant in all the 
country more southward toward the coast until 1856, 
when an epizootic distemper called "black tongue" 
broke out among them and killed them by the thousand. 
We have ourselves known this disease to occur, both in 
Louisiana and Texas, and have examined subjects affected 
by it. The most marked symptoms seemed to be a gen- 
eral emaciation and wasting away of the system, a mucus 
discharge from the nostrils and a sloughing of the hoofs, 
all evidently accompanied with fever and thirst, for the 
dead were found mostly at or near water. 
All the Euminantia are Bubject to affections more or 
less similar, and African explorers and hunters — Harris, 
Cumming, Anderson, Livingston and Moffat — all mention 
a similar distemper as fearfully fatal among the antelope 
of South Africa. 
When this disease passed, the deer almost disappeared 
with it, and all of our old citizens agree that the game 
has never been so abundant since; yet in some localities 
they are still quite plentiful, and under proper laws, wisely 
framed for their protection and thoroughly enforced, they 
would again increase, and soon be abundant. 
We have known the deer to be almost exterminated by 
the overflowing of the lowlands in the State of Louisiana, 
and yet by the return of those few which had made their 
way to the highlands and the survival of those which had 
sought refuge on the large trunks of fallen and floating 
trees, they would in a few years be as numerous as ever. 
Under such conditions more of them perish, we are in- 
clined to believe, from starvation than oy drowning, for 
the deer is one of the most powerful and swiftest of swim- 
mers. Unfortunately, owing to their extreme local attach- 
ments, many cling to the places where they were reared, 
and during the months when the land is submerged take 
refuge on the trunks of large floating trees anchored fast 
in the dense woods where there is no current, and subsist 
by eating the leaves, and when these fail by gnawing the 
bark from all the bushes within reach. Nevertheless, as 
may well be supposed, many die from starvation under 
these conditions. We have seen and examined many of 
these "poor prison houses," and the sight was well calcu- 
lated to move the human heart to pity. 
It is gratifying to know that quite a number, when the 
overflow comes, strike out and reach by swimming the 
high lands, which may be many miles away. I was pres- 
ent on one occasion when just as we came out of church 
in the town of Rodney, Miss. , two deer emerged from the 
bank-full river close by, evidently having come from the 
lowlands of Louisiana, which were all under water, and 
leisurely galloped up a street and found refuge in the 
hill forest beyond. It affords us pleasure to say that they 
were not molested in any way, and were followed by the 
openly expressed pity and sympathy of the whole con- 
gregation. 
The Fawns. 
■ Let us go back now and trace this interesting animal 
from infancy to the adult state, remarking that the habits 
of birth and growth are about the same in both species. 
The does, as near as we have been able to determine, 
carry their young about six months. In this latitude the 
fawns are dropped in the month of May, and in localities 
further south many in the month of J une. At this time 
the color of the fawns of the mule deer is of a dirty yel- 
lowish ground, covered with white spots. The young of 
these are not so handsome as are those of the other deer, 
for, as Judge Caton remarks, ' 'By far the most beautiful 
of all is the ornamental coat of the fawn of the Virginia 
deer." For some time after coming into life, the young 
lie very close, hidden almost always in some secluded 
spot among the bushes and herbage. 
We have never known them to lie at this stage of their 
life as the young of sheep and goats do, almost touch- 
ing one another, but they lie with more or less distance 
separating them, never very far apart and never very 
close together. 
The doe, as a rule, produces two young at a birth, 
almost always a male and a female. 
For some time after they are dropped, probably for a 
month or more, the doe never goes near them except to 
nurse them, but lies at some distance off with ears and 
