24 The Mammals of Colorado 
The enemies of the deer, besides man, are the mountain 
lion or cougar, the gray wolf, bobcats pick up a fawn occasion- 
ally, and it is likely the coyotes do the same. 
This deer is a silent animal, a snort of alarm or the bleat 
of the doe being about the only noises it makes. Its gait 
is very peculiar, entirely unlike that of the White-tail, Elk, 
Antelope, or Mountain Sheep; it ''consists of a series of stiff- 
legged bounds, all four feet leaving and striking the ground 
at the same time" (Roosevelt). This is the usual gait, 
but it also trots and occasionally gallops. 
Genus CERVUS (Latin, Stag or Deer) 
Cervus Linn., Syst. Xai., i., p. i66 (1750). Type, 6\ elaphiis 
Linnaeus. 
Revision, Lydekker, Deer of all Lands (1898). 
This genus contains those deer, alhed to the Red Deer of Europe, 
whose antlers are characterized by possessing two basal tines 
springing close together from the main stem, and projecting forwards 
over the forehead. 
Antlers are only present in the male; the canine teeth are well 
developed in the American species; vomer never ossified and 
dividing the osseous posterior nares into two passages; only the 
proximal portion of the lateral metacarpals persisting. 
The members of this genus are spread all over the northern 
part of the Old and New Worlds. In addition to the well 
known species described here, two others, C. jnerriami Nelson, 
from the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, and C. 
nannoides Merriam, from Kern County, California, have 
recently been described, while the Pacific Coast Wapiti 
from British Columbia and the coast ranges of Washington 
and Oregon is regarded as a subspecies (C. canadensis 
occidentalis H. Smith) of the wide-spread form. 
Cervus canadensis. (From or belonging to Canada.) 
American Elk or Wapiti 
Cervus elaphus canadensis Erxl., Syst. Regn., i., p. 305 (1777). 
Type locality. — Eastern Canada. 
