The White-Tailed Deer 
19 
terized by the absence from the antlers of the brow and bez 
tines which project forward over the forehead; their place is 
taken by a sub-basal upwardly directed snag, usually present, 
but of small size; antlers in the male only; tail long and thickly 
haired beneath; face glands small; upper canines absent; 
skull with the vomer dividing the posterior nares into two 
distinct chambers; lateral metacarpals complete. 
The deer forming this group are found throughout the 
greater part of North and South America. They are subject 
to very considerable local variations, with a general tendency 
to become smaller and to bear somewhat simpler and lighter 
antlers as we go southwards. As a result a very large number 
of new species have been described of late years. Elliot in his 
recent revision of North American Mammals recognizes 15 
species and 13 subspecies in America north of the Isthmus. 
These divide themselves naturally into two groups, repre- 
sented by the Virginian or White-tailed Deer, and the 
Columbian and Californian Black-tailed Deer and the 
Mule Deer. In Colorado the genus is represented by a 
western form of the Virginian Deer, and by the typical form 
of the Mule Deer; they can be distinguished as follows: 
A. Ears moderate, about half the length of the head ; tail brown 
above, white below; antlers with a large sub-basal snag; 
beam forwardly directed, the anterior branch the largest 
and longest; glands on the metatarsus, short, about one 
inch in length. O. macrourus, p. 19 
B. Ears large, § to f the length of the head; tail white-tipped, 
with a black tuft ; antlers with a short sub-basal snag ; beam 
upwardly and outwardly directed, forking dichotonously, 
both branches approximately equal ; glands on the metatarsus 
long, about five inches, O. hemionus, p. 22 
Odocoileus americanus macrourus (Gr. makros, long, 
+ oura, tail) . Western White-tailed Deer. 
Cervus macrourus Rafinesque, Amer. Month. Mag., i., p. 436 
(1817X 
