[77.] 5. C ervus l eucurus. (Douglas.) Long-tailed, Deer.
Roe-buck. Dobbs, Hudson's Bay, p. 41. An. 1744.
Fallow or Virginian deer. C o o k , Third Voy., vol. ii. p. 292. An. 1778.
Long-tailed jumping deer. U m f r e v i l l e , Hudson's Bay, p. 190» An. 1790.
Deer, with small horns and a long tail. C a s s , Joum., p . 55. An. 1808.
- Long-tailed red deer. L e w i s and C l a r k , v o l. ii. p. 41.
Small deer of the Pacific. I id e m , vol. ii.-p. 342.
Common r e d deer. I i d e m , vol. iii. p. 26.
Common fallow d e e r , with long tails. I i d e m , vol. m . p . 85.
Apeesee-mongsoos. Cb.e e I n d ia n s . Jumping deer. H u d s o n ’s B a y T r a d e r s .
C h e v re u ii. C a n a d ia n V o y a g e r s . M ow itc h . I n d ia n s w e s t o f t h e R o cK Y M o u n t a in s .
This animal, from the general resemblance it has in size, form, and habits, to
the Cervus capreolus of Europe, has obtained the name of Chevreuii from the
French Canadians, and of Roebuck from the Scottish highlanders employed by the
Hudson’s Bay Company. These names occur in the works of several authors
who have written on the fur countries, and Umfreville gives a brief, but, as far as
it goes, a correct description of it. Lewis and Clark allude to it, as far as I can
judge from their short notices under the different appellations quoted above, all
of which indicate that they considered it to be a variety of the Cervus virginianus,
which is named red or fallow-deer in different parts of the United States. The
specific name of Cervus macrourus seems to have been intended to designate this-
deer; but the characters authors * have assigned to it appertain to var. j3 of the
Cervus macrotis, having been compiled from Lewis and Clark’s short aceourit
of their black-tailed fallow-deer. The black tip of the tail of the Cervus macrotis
or mule-deer, renders it a more conspicuous object than that of the long-tailed
deer, and the former is often termed kinwaitkoos or long-tail by the Gree hunters,
although the epithet is more appropriate to the latter. I eould not, whilst
residing on the banks of the Saskatchewan, procure a specimen of this animal, as
has been mentioned in the preceding article, but have lately had an opportunity
of examining the skin of a female one presented to the Zoological Museum by the
Hudson’s Bay Company. Mr. David Douglas has given an account of the
habits of the species in the Zoological Journal, and I have adopted his specific
name of leucurus, which is preferable to macrourus, because the original descriptions
given under the latter name are not applicable to this species.
* W a r d e n , United States, vol. i. p. 245. G r i f f i t h ’s A n . Kingd., vol. iv. p. 134.; vol. v. p. 316. No. 25.
This, like the preceding specie^, does not, on the east side of the Rocky
Mountains, range further north than latitude 54°, nor is it found in that parallel
to the eastward of the 105th degree of longitude. Mr. Douglas informs us that
it is “ the most common deer of any in the districts adjoining the river Columbia,
more especially in the fertile prairies of the Covralidske and Multnomah Rivers,
within one hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. It is also occasionally met with
dear the base of the Rocky Mountains on the same side of that ridge. Its
favourite haunts are the coppices, composed of Corylus, Rubus, Rosa, and
Amelanchier, on the declivities of the low hills or dry undulating grounds. Its
gait is two ambling steps and a bound, exceeding double .the distance of the steps,-
which mode it does 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 true mte, 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 springing up the hunter plants an
arrow in his object. The flesh is excellent when in good order, and remarkably
tender and well flavoured." “ They go in herds from November to April and
May, when the female secretes herself to bring forth. The young are spotted
with white until the middle of the first winter, when they change to the same
colour as the most aged."
Lewis and Clark say of it—“ The common red deer inhabit the Rocky
Mountains, in the neighbourhood of the Chopunnish, and about the Columbia,
and down the river as low as where the tide-water commences. They do not
differ essentially from those of the United States, being the same in shape, size,
mid appearance. The tail is, however, different, which is of unusual length, far
exceeding that of the common deer. Captain Lewis measured one, and found it
to be seventeen inches long." In another passage they remark, “ the common
fallow deer with long tails, though very poor, are better than the black-tailed
fallow deer of the coast, from which they differ materially.” As these intelligent
travellers have remarked, this deer approaches very near to the Cervus virginianus
in all its characters, and may eventually prove to be only a variety.
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