Copyright, 1897, by Harper & Brothers. All Rights Reserved.
| published weekly. | NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1897. | five cents a copy. |
| vol. xviii.—no. 899. | two dollars a year. |
A CHRISTMAS BUCK.
BY HON. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Throughout most of the ranch country there are two kinds of deer, theblack-tail and the white-tail. The white-tail is the same as the deer ofthe East; it is a beautiful creature, a marvel of lightness and grace inall its movements, and it loves to dwell in thick timber, so that in theplains country it is almost confined to the heavily wooded riverbottoms. The black-tail is somewhat larger, with a different and verypeculiar gait, consisting of a succession of stiff-legged bounds, allfour feet striking the earth at the same time. Its habits are likewisevery different, as it is a bolder animal and much fonder of the opencountry. Among the Rockies it is found in the deep forests, but itprefers scantily wooded regions, and on the plains it dwells by choicein the rough hills, spending the day in the patches of ash or cedaramong the ravines. Fifteen years ago the black-tail was very much moreabundant than the white-tail almost everywhere in the West, but owing tothe nature of its haunts it is more easily killed out, and n