VIRGINIAN DEER. 
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slender. A glandular pouch surrounded by a thick tuft of rigid hairs in- 
side of the hind legs. 
COLOUR. 
The Virginian Deer varies considerably in colour at different periods of 
the year. In the spring it is of a dusky reddish or fulvous colour above, 
extending over the whole head, back, upper surface of the tail and along 
the sides? In the autumn it is of a bluish or lead colour, and in winter 
the hairs on the upper surface are longer and more dense and of a brown- 
ish dark tint. Beneath the chin, throat, belly, inner surface of legs, and 
under side of tail, white. There is no perceptible difference in colour be- 
tween the sexes. 
The fawns are at first, bright reddish-brown, spotted with irregular lon- 
gitudinal rows of white. These spots become less visible as the animal 
grows older, and in the course of about four months the hairs are replaced 
by others, and it assumes the colour of the old ones. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Feet. Inches. 
Length from nose to root of tail, ... - 5 4 
“ of tail, (vertebrae), ... - - 6 
“ including hairs, .----11 
“ Height of ear, ----- 
HABITS. 
Perhaps no species of wild animal inhabiting North- America, deserves to 
be regarded with more interest than the subject of our present article, the 
Common or Virginian Deer ; its symmetrical form, graceful curving leap 
or bound, and its rushing speed, when, flying before its pursuers, it passes 
like a meteor by the startled traveller in the forest, exciting admiration, 
though he be ever so dull an observer. 
The tender, juicy, savoury, and above all, digestible qualities of its flesh 
are well known ; and venison is held in highest esteem from the camp of 
the backwoodman to the luxurious tables of the opulent, and, when not 
kept too long ( a common error in our large cities by the way) a fat haunch 
with jelly and chafing dishes is almost as much relished, as a “ hunter’s 
steak,” cooked in the open air on a frosty evening Ihr away in the west. 
The skin is of the greatest service to the wild man, and also useful to the 
dweller in towns ; dressed and smoked by the squaw, until soft and pliable. 
