126 
ORDERS OF MAMMALS — HOOFED ANIMALS 
in number. They were obtained from an animal 
killed in White River County, Colorado. A very 
large pair from the Shoshone Mountains, in the 
author’s collection of horns, has a beam length of 
58 inches, a spread of 49i inches, and burr circum- 
ference of 1 1 inches. 
Elk hunting is not always as fine sport as the 
noble individuality of this animal would nat- 
urally lead the hunter to expect. Very often 
the Elk is unsuspicious, to the point of stupidity. 
There have been many times when attacking a 
herd was too much like attacking a herd of cat- 
tle. It is not an animal of “ highly-wrought- 
nervous” temperament, like the deer, but when 
startled is too much given to hesitating, and 
seeking knowledge, before it dashes away to 
safety. 
During the last three years important steps 
have been taken, by private individuals only, 
toward restoring the Elk to the Adirondack for- 
ests, which it once inhabited. In 1901, the Hon. 
William C. Whitney caused twenty-two head to 
be liberated there, and in 1902, forty more were 
set free. In August and September, 1903, five 
car-loads of Elk, sixty-eight head in all, were 
shipped from Mr. Whitney’s game preserve on 
October Mountain, near Lenox, Mass., and lib- 
erated at Saranac Lake, Floodwood Station and 
near Paul Smith’s Station. All these animals had 
become fully acclimatized on the Atlantic coast, 
were in fine physical condition, and if not killed 
by poachers will no doubt multiply at a reason- 
ably rapid rate. That many of these fine ani- 
mals will from time to time be killed and eaten 
by lawless and unprincipled persons seems abso- 
lutely certain, and the great danger is that 
they will be killed more rapidly than they breed. 
The Mule Deer, or Rocky Mountain “Black- 
Tail ,” 1 is a large and handsome animal, and 
the largest of the North American species that 
are universally known as “deer.” It is easily 
recognized by its very large ears, the two Y’s on 
each antler, a short, white tail with a small 
tip of black, and a white patch around the base 
of the tail. Its antlers are much larger than 
those of the white-tailed deer. Owing to then- 
size and width, and their more erect poise on the 
head, the appearance of this animal is more 
stately than that of any other round-horned 
American deer, save the elk. 
1 O-do-coi'le-us hem-i-o’nus. 
In the region it inhabits, this fine animal is 
known as the “Black-Tailed” Deer; but that 
name is not appropriate to a creature which has a 
snow-white tail with only a tiny tip of black. It 
rightfully belongs to the Pacific coast species, 
which has a black tail, and is known by no other 
name than Columbian Black-Tail. To avoid 
further confusion and misunderstandings, stu- 
dents are urged to speak of the Rocky Mountain 
species as the Mule Deer. 
The winter color of the Mule Deer is a steel 
gray, to match the gray rocks and vegetation 
amongst which it lives. Its summer coat is gray- 
brown, and it is shed in September. 
The Mule Deer chooses for its home the most 
picturesque “ bad-lands ” and foot-hills of the 
Rocky Mountain region, and the deep ravines 
along rivers, but it also ascends the mountain 
plateaus of its home to an elevation of 12,000 
feet. It is a proud-spirited, high-headed ani- 
mal, a bold traveller, and like the mountain 
sheep, is often found where the scenery is wild 
and picturesque. In this respect it differs from 
the white-tailed deer, which prefers low ground, 
and either brush or timber in which to hide. 
A large Mule Deer buck, shot by the author 
on Snow Creek, Montana, measured 42 inches 
high at the shoulders, and 62 + 6 inches in length. 
A large pair of antlers (in the author’s collection) 
have a beam length of 27 {- inches, spread 29 
inches, and have 14 points. 
In the United States, the present scarcity of 
really large antlers in the possession of taxider- 
mists is a sure sign of the approaching end of this 
species. 
In February, 1903, Mr. A. G. Wallihan, the 
famous photographer of wild animals in their 
haunts, made the following prediction regarding 
the impending extermination of the Mule Deer in 
Colorado, its centre of abundance in the United 
States : 
“Unless we have a close season on deer, five 
years will see the finish of these animals. Five 
years would give them a good start again. I 
will cite you some figures: In 1897 I was on the 
big trail here for nine days, and I counted within 
a few of a thousand deer. In 1901 I was on the 
same trail for eighteen days, and counted two 
hundred and twenty-eight deer. In 1902 I was 
out fourteen days, and counted fifty-two deer. 
More deer passed in a single twenty-four hours in 
