THE WHIT E-T AILED DEER. 
Cervus leucurus. 
Plate XX. 
The American Deer without brow-antlers have been separated by Dr. Gray into a group to which he 
gives the name of Cariacus. They are perhaps seven or eight in number, and are all capable of living 
in an English Park. They are extremely graceful, beautiful in colour, and would amply repay the trouble 
and expense of establishing them. 
The Common Virginian Deer of the United States is the best known species of this form. Closely 
allied to it is the present White-Tailed or Long-Tailed Deer of the Western side of the Rocky Mountains. 
A male example of this animal lived for several years in the Menagerie of the late Lord Derby, at 
Ivnowsley. Shortly before the dissolution of his Lordship’s magnificent collection in 1851, this animal 
was transferred to the Zoological Society’s establishment, and afforded Mr. Wolf the opportunity of 
securing the accompanying study of this beautiful species. 
The White-Tailed Deer was first described by Mr. Douglas, in the Zoological Journal for 1829, where 
he gives the following interesting notice of its range and habits:— 
“This species is the most common Deer in the districts adjoining the River Columbia, more especially 
in the fertile prairies of the Cowalidske and Multnomah River, within one hundred miles of the Western 
Ocean. They are also occasionally met with near the base of the Rocky Mountains, on the west side 
of that ridge. Their favourite haunts are the coppices composed of Corylus, Ilnbus, Rosa, and Amelanchier, 
on the declivities of the low hills or dry undulating grounds. Their gait is two ambling steps and a 
bound, the bound exceeding double the distance of the steps, which mode they do not depart from even 
when closely pursued. In running the tail is erect, wagging from side to side, and from its unusual 
length is the most remarkable feature about the animal. The voice of the male calling the female is 
like the sound produced by blowing in the muzzle of a gun, or in a hollow cane. The voice of the female 
calling the young is mm mm, pronounced shortly. This is well imitated by the native tribes, with a stem 
of Heracleum lanatum, cut at a joint, leaving six inches of a tube. With this, aided by a head and horns 
of a full-grown buck, which the hunter carries with him as a decoy, and which he moves backwards 
and forwards among the long grass, alternately feigning the voice with the tube, the unsuspecting 
animal is attracted within a few yards in the hope of finding its partner, when instantly up springs the 
hunter and plants an arrow in his object. They are tenacious of life, and often escape although both 
shoulders be broken. The flesh is excellent when in good order, remarkably tender, and well flavoured.” 
