MULE DEER. 
209 
HABITS. 
The first opportunity was afforded us of observing this magnificent 
animal, on the 12th of May as we were ascending the Missouri, about 
eleven hundred miles above Fort Leavenworth. On winding along the 
banks, bordering a long and wide prairie, intermingled with willows and 
other small brush wood, we suddenly came in sight of four Mule or black- 
tailed Deer, which after standing a moment on the bank and looking at us, 
trotted leisurely away, without appearing to be much alarmed. After they 
had retired a few hundred yards, the two largest, apparently males, ele- 
vated themselves on their hind legs and pawed each other in the manner 
of the horse- They occasionally stopped for a moment, then trotted off 
again, appearing and disappearing from time to time, when becoming 
suddenly alarmed, they bounded off at a swift pace, until out of sight. 
They did not trot or run as irregularly as our Virginian Deer, and they 
appeared at a distance darker in colour, as the common Deer at this 
season is red. On the 2.5th of the same month, we met with four other.s, 
w^hich in the present instance did not stop to be examined ; we saw them 
at a distance rapidly and gracefully hurrying out of sight. On the evening 
of the same day, one of our hunters brought .to us a young Buck of ^^is 
species, the horns of which, however, were yet too small to enable us to 
judge what would be their appearance in the adult animal. When on the 
Upper Missouri, near Fort Union, we obtained through the aid of our hun- 
ters, the female Black-tailed Deer, from which our figure, description and 
measurements have been made. We regret exceedingly that v/e were so 
unfortunate as not to have been able to procure a male, the delineation 
of which we must leave to our successors. 
The habits of this animal approach more nearly those of the Elk, than 
of either the long-tailed or Virginian Deer. Like the former they remove 
far from the settlements; fly from the vicinity of the hunter’s camp, and 
when once fairly started, run for a mile or two before they come to a 
pause. 
The female produces one or two young, in the month of June. 
We have figured a female in summer pelage, and have represented the 
animal in an exhausted state, wounded through the body, and about to 
drop down, whilst the hunter is seen approaching, through the tall grass, 
anticipating the moment when she will reel and fall in her tracks. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
The Mule Deer range along the eastern sides of the Rocky Mountains, 
through a vast extent of country ; and according to Lewis and Clarke 
VOL. li. — 27. 
