210 
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
period its skin is reckoned the most valuable. Through 
all these changes the lower jaw, the fore part of the 
throat, the inside of the ears, the belly, and the inside 
of the limbs, are white ; the face has a grayish tinge ; the 
moist muzzle is of a dusky black, with a white spot on 
each side of the upper lip ; and the lower lip is of a pure 
white, with the exception of a transverse band of dusky 
black which crosses it behind the middle. The tail is 
rather long, tawny above, terminating in black, and 
white beneath ; and a white patch occupies the but- 
tocks beneath the tail, but does not extend beyond its 
edges. The suborbital fissures consist only of a slight 
fold of the outer skin ; and the muzzle is remarkably 
slender and pointed. The male has no canine teeth. 
Its horns, which are cast in January and lose their 
velvet in September or October, are round, and in the 
second year (when they first make their appearance) 
perfectly simple and arched inwards and forwards. In 
the third year they are furnished with a single antler, 
rising some distance above the base, and directed in- 
wards. In the fourth a second antler makes its appear- 
ance posteriorly near the extremity ; and in the fifth, a 
third is thrown out above the last. In some old bucks 
the number of antlers amounts to four, one internal, and 
three posterior. The horns themselves are constantly 
arched forwards, and their points advance so far ante- 
riorly as to be placed perpendicularly above the muzzle, 
The American Fallow-Deer appears to be one of the 
most abundant species of the group. It lives in nume- 
rous herds, and forms a common food of the wild tribes 
of North America and of the inhabitants of the back 
settlements. The females are frequently taken during 
the summer months, by the hunters imitating the cry of 
the fawn. Their solicitude for their young overcomes 
their timidity, and they fall victims to their maternal 
affection. 
