country where
prairie and forest alternate, forming a succession of groves and
openings. Both are found only in the western half of the continent--
that is, in the wild regions extending from the Mississippi to the
Pacific. In longitude, as far east as the Mississippi, they are rarely
seen; but as you travel westward, either approaching the Rocky
Mountains, or beyond these to the shores of the Pacific, they are the
common deer of the country. The black-tailed kind is more southern in
its range. It is found in the Californias, and the valleys of the Rocky
Mountains, as far south as Texas; while to the north it is met with in
Oregon, and on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, as high as the
fifty-fourth parallel. The long-tailed species is the most common deer
of Oregon and the Columbia River, and its range also extends east of the
Rocky Mountains, though not so far as the longitude of the Mississippi.

The hunter-naturalist, who had some years before made a journey to
Oregon, and of course had become well acquainted with the habits of the
_Cervus leucurus_, gave us a full account of them, and related a
stirring adventure that had befallen him while hunting "long-tails" upon
the Columbia.

"The long-tailed deer," began he, "is one of the smallest of the deer
kind. Its weight rarely exceeds 100 pounds. It resembles in form and
habits the common fallow deer, the chief distinction being the tail,
which is a very conspicuous object. This appendage is often found to
measure eighteen inches in length!

"While running, the tail is held erect, and kept constantly switching
from side to side, so as to produce a singular and somewhat ludicrous
effect upon the mind of the spectator.

"The gait of this animal is also peculiar. It first takes two ambling
steps that resemble a trot, after these it makes a long bound, which
carries it about twice the distance of the steps, and then it trots
again. No matter how closely pursued, it never alters this mode of
progression.

"Like the fallow deer, it produces spotted fawns, which are brought
forth in the spring, and change their colour to that of the deer itself
in the first winter. About the month of November they gather into
herds, and remain together until April, when they separate, the females
secreting themselves to bring forth their young.

"The long-tailed deer is often found in wooded countries; though its
favourite haunts are not amid the heavy timber of the