^\\' y^N-Stf ^W ^V s '«^^'*^'^&\>s-> §;\\: CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library QL 737 .U5C36 1881 Antelope and deer of America : 3 1924 024 783 387 H^ Cornell University B kf Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024783387 THE ANTELOPE AND DEER OF AMERICA. '^'IjUMl i.' n THE GLANDS. 259 and six lines at the upper end, but is narrower below the gland. About six lines below the upper end of this tuft commences the upper end of the naked space over the gland. This naked space is from five inches and one line to six inches long on very large specimens, and from four lines to half an inch broad, and is cov- ered by a black scale of the concentrated exudation. (Fig. 5, p. 258.) The gland extends beyond the naked portion so that its borders are under the tuft of hairs, but the portion covered with hairs is much less active than the naked portion, so that the encroachment of the hairs would seem to be gradually obliter- ating the gland, or the advancement of the gland, by degrees displacing the hairs. The elevated hairs on either side of the gland approach each other over its centre, and then when they meet turn back and so form a sort of seam directly over the organ. I have critically examined a great number of specimens, and have found this organ remarkably uniform in all, varying only in extent according to the size of the animal. Not a single white or black hair ever occurs in the tuft, but the whole surface is a uniform, tawny yellow of exactly the same shade as on the rest of the leg. Nor is the inside black as is the tuft on the inside of the hock just described, but the lower part of the hairs is of a lighter shade than the outer portion. I could never observe these to be disturbed by excitement as is the case with the other. I here present illustrations of these glands of all our species on which they are found, and also on the small deer from Ceylon, with the tufts of hair which cover them, opened so as to expose the naked portions covered with the black incrustations. By seeing them thus brought together, we are the better enabled to compare them. In this glandular system the Black-tailed deer, G. OolumManus, as well as in some other peculiar characteristics, is nearest allied to the mule deer, as we shall see in another place, although in other respects these species are widely divergent. The meta- tarsal gland commences a little lower down on the metatarsus, than on the mule deer, and its tuft of long partially reversed ~ hairs occupies a space about four inches long and fully one inch broad. On a large specimen the naked crusted portion is two inches in length and scarcely three lines broad. The hairs of this tuft are disposed much as on the mule deer, though the central seam over the gland is not so well defined. Like the other it corresponds exactly in color with the hairs on the rest of the leg, without a single white or black hair in the region, and 260 THE DEER OF AMERICA. altogether is scarcely distinguishable from that on the mule deer, except from its diminished size. These indicia of species I have found exactly alike, whether taken from specimens captured a thousand mUes apart or bred in my grounds. The tarsal gland on this deer occupies about the same position as on the mule deer, is similarly shaped, but is a little less in extent. The tuft covering it differs from the other most strik- ingly in color. Instead of presenting a lightish yellow color on the surface it is a foxy red, and it presents but little change when opened, although careful inspection shows a darker shade near the skin ; the hairs when individually examined are for the upper half a foxy red color, then they begin to turn a little gray, and near the lower end are a light brown. When the hairs of this tuft are spread out in excitement, no appreciable change of color is observed in the appearance of the tuft. Its individual character- istics are sufficiently pronounced to declare the species to which it belongs. Scarcely less characteristic are these glands on the Virginia Deer, though from their wide distribution slight variations in size are found on those taken from widely different localities. Still, they possess such distinctive qualities as never to leave the least doubt as to thei S'pecies to which they belong when nothing but the skin of that portion of the leg. is examined. The tuft of hairs covering the metatarsal gland on the Virginia Deer commences six lines above the middle of the cannon bone, and extends downward one inch and six lines, and is nine lines broad, the posterior line extending a little beyond the posterior edge of the leg, as in all the other species. On the fully adult the naked portion, which is covered with the same hard black scale as the others, is nine lines long, the upper end of which is as near as possible at the longitudinal middle of the leg and is about two lines wide. The largest proportionate specimens I have found were on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, although the animals are smaller than further north. The longest I have ever met with, on a me- dium sized animal, was one inch and one line long, and taken from an animal I found in the Mobile market ; and on a yearling buck we killed on Negro Hummock near the mouth of Burwicks Bay, I found the naked portion nearly one inch in length. From all the specimens I have been able to examine, from near our south- ern border, I can scarcely doubt that this gland is appreciably larger on the Virginia Deer there than it is in this latitude, and THE GLANDS. 261 this, beside the diminished size of the animal, is the only pe- culiarity I have been able to discover in the animals found in the far south. On the very large buck which I killed in Wisconsin, in 1876, the metatarsal gland was one inch and six lines long, which, however, was no larger proportionately than is observed on animals of the ordinary size. The smallest I have ever found on on adult was on a small female and was six lines long. In all, both wild and in parks, from one ocean to the other, in the mid- dle States and north of them, I have found a wonderful uniformity in the size of this gland, varying, of course, with the size of the animal. Immediately around the naked space is a band of white hairs, which occupies a space on the skin about two lines broad, al- though from their being longer than those around them they appear to occupy a greater space. Immediately outside this white band there is usually a very narrow dark border, shading down to the prevailing color of the balance of the leg, which is more generally of a fawn color, though there is great variation in the color of the leg of the Common Deer, even more than on other parts of the body. Sometimes the band surrounding the white hairs is fairly black with the outer border adjoining the rufous colored and shorter hairs well defined. On the specimens found in the western mountainous regions and in the high northern latitudes — where they are called the white-tailed or the long-tailed deer, and have been doubtfully named Q. leuourus — this dark border is wanting, and tins is the only difference I can find in and about this gland from the com- mon variety here. In location, formation, size, and covering, they are precisely alike, save only this small pencil of deeply colored hairs surrounding the white tuft, which would never be noticed by the casual observer, and which would be unworthy the attention of the most critical inquirer, were it not for their constant presence and exact uniformity, except as to the depth of the color on nearly every specimen found east of the Rocky Mountain slope and south of latitude forty-three degrees north. On specimens from the far north and west, the white portions of the animal are appreciably more extensive than on specimens found here, as we have seen, when speaking of the coat and color ; and on one specimen in my collection from the far north- west, not only all the hairs in the region of this gland, but the whole leg, including the hock, is white, with a few red hairs in- terspersed along the lower front part. I cannot think that the 262 THE DEER OF AMERICA. absence of the pencil of dark hairs around the white which sur- rounds the gland, is sufficient to justify us in setting up a new species or retaining an old one. Many individuals from each re- gion may be met with exactly alike in color, only this little dark pencil of hairs is almost universally found on those native here, and generally wanting on those grown there. The tarsal gland and the tuft of hairs covering it on the Vir- ginia Deer, are just alike on all the varieties. It is larger than on any of the other species. It is pear-shaped, and is placed with the small end upwards, from the upper end of which the tuft gradually rises to its lower broad extremity, where it ter- minates abruptly. The hairs composing this tuft are white, but are generally more or less stained, so that at first we would often suspect them to be of another color, and very frequently the cen- tre of the lower extremity of the tuft is stained to a deep black color for a/ space the size of a dime or larger. It is, however, only the extreme tips of the hairs that are stained sufficiently to show when they lie compactly together. Let but a dog come along on the outside of the fence and look in, and these tufts on every deer near enough to notice him, will immediately rise up and spread out, presenting the appearance of a great snow-ball of the purest white on the inside of each hock, and not a trace of the stains will be observed. Lastly, we come to my little Acapulco Deer, which may be soon disposed of, for as previously remarked, the metatarsal gland is entirely wanting, as it is on the moose and the caribou. But the tarsal gland is present, with the tuft of hair covering it of a good size, considering the size of the animal. It bears the same gen- eral appearance as on all the other species, except the moose, but is of the same color as the regions surrounding it. The want of the metatarsal gland separates it more distinctly from the Ceylon Deer in my grounds than any other character- istic, though it is something smaller in stature, and the antlers differ somewhat, as we have seen, when that branch of my sub- ject was considered. The tarsal gland is present on this Ceylon species as well, resembling much those on the others, while the gland on the outside of the leg is situated lower down, and is much smaller than on any of the other species (see Fig. 8, p. 258). A few white hairs are observed about this gland, though the tuft is so small as to elude detection, except on a close examination. Dr. Gray expressed the opinion when he first suggested the im- portance of the tufts of hairs covering these cutaneous glands as THE GLANDS. 2G3 a means of dividing the genus, that domestication or confine- ment tends to diminish the size of these tufts. From this sug- gestion I have been led to carefully look for such effect under the conditions suggested, but I have been unable to detect any difference in the size of those tufts, on the vs^ild animals and those reared in parks or kept in close confinement. While on each of the separate species the tarsal gland and the tuft of hairs covering it, is not so marked in its distinctive char- acteristics, except indeed upon the moose, yet there is quite a plain difference between those found on any one species and those on either of the others. The fact that they are just alike on each individual of either species, renders these marks of great value, and justifies a careful study of each so as to clearly appre- ciate differences between those found on the different species. There is another set of glands, which, though not found on all of the species, are constant on some, and would seem to be usual, to say the least, on others. These are interdigital glands, and like the others of which I have treated, are conglomerate and dermal. They are situated between the upper phalangeal bones. They are in the form of small sacks opening anteriorly. On some species they are larger in diameter and in depth, propor- tionally, than on others, and in a given species they vary accord- ing to the size of the animal, as do the other glands treated of. All have more or less hairs growing within the sack, and they vary considerably in their activity. On the more active ones, at least, when dissected out from the recently killed animal and ex- amined on the flesh side, they seem to be literally covered with ducts or divided into lobules readily distinguished by the naked eye. So far as I have been able to make a personal examination I have found them the most extensive in the smallest species, the little Acapulco Deer. On a fully adult doe I find the sack to be about one inch in depth and five lines in diameter. The sack contains a limited amount of hairs and a considerable amount of secreted matter which has a pungent, disagreeable, musky odor. I find it on all the feet in all the specimens I have had an oppor- tunity to examine, and all substantially corresponding to the above description, only on smaller specimens it is proportionally less. About the same may be stated of the Ceylon Deer. Of the Virginia Deer I have examined great numbers for this gland. It is always present in all the feet. It is about the same size in both sexes. On a medium sized animal it is fully 264 THE DEER OF AMERICA. one inch in depth and seven lines in diameter. On very large animals I have found it fully one inch and a half in depth. Hairs, though to a limited number, are found within it. On this deer I have found this gland more active than on any of the others. It always contains a considerable amount of the secreted matter, which is about the consistency of cerumen, and a portion of it frequently assumes the form of pellets about the size of a small pea, which, however, are so soft as to be more or less flattened. This substance is of a grayish color, and emits an odor which is strong and offensive to most nostrils. I have never seen a white man smell of it who did not look and express himself disgusted. The Columbia Deer possess this gland in each foot. While its location is the same its position seems to be a little different from that on any of the others, and it is more massive, and has the ap- pearance of muscle attached to the inner side of the skin, though in fact it pervades the whole skin. The lobules are larger than on any others examined, being half a line in diameter, and sexangular or octangular in form, and readily distinguished by the naked eye. The directio'n of the opening is more parallel with the line of the foot, the opening being found by passing the probe up the deep indentation between the phalangeal bones. The sack is about seven lines deep and five lines in diameter at the orifice, contracting toward the end. It contains a limited amount of hairs, and the amount of secreted matter within is moderately abundant. The gland is not confined to the sack, but extends down to the extreme point of division between the hoofs, the hairs overgrowing it at the bottom of the indentation, all the way down, being stained a yellowish shade by the exudation. This retains its pungent odor a long time after the death of the animal. This gland is appreciably larger, as we shall see, than is that on the mule deer, which has identically the same gait when at its best speed. My opportunities for examining the Mule Deer have been sufii- ciently extensive to be satisfactory. This gland is present in all the feet, but is much less extensive than in the Virginia deer and proportionally less than on the Columbia deer. On a fully adult animal the sack is six lines deep and five lines in diameter. This sack is more abundantly lined with hairs than* that on the Virginia deer. These hairs are fine, soft, and elastic, and from their confinement have assumed a curled or curved form. The secretions I found less abundant, and less pungent to the smell than in the Virginia deer or the Columbia deer. THE GLANDS. 265 My opportunities to examine the Barren-ground Caribou for this gland have been limited. I have but two hind feet and one fore foot of this animal, which I have carefully dissected. On the fore foot there is no appearance of the gland. On one hind foot 1 found it very conspicuous. It was an inch and five lines in depth and six lines in diameter, and was literally filled with coarse, stifE hairs, pointing to and even protruding from the ori- fice. All of the hairs within the sack were stained a tawny yel- low color, deepest near the orifice, but beyond it the ends faded out to nearly white. When soaked and washed much of this coloring matter is removed, but still the hairs do not become white. This coloring matter is the exudation of the glandular ducts, which is very abundant upon and near the skin among the lower part of the hairs, and is found in detached particles adher- ing to the hairs for some distance up from their roots. I observed no odor from this secretion, nor should I have expected any after the specimen had been dried for a year or two. On the left hind foot as well as on the fore foot of this Caribou, this gland was entirely wanting. The fact that it was conspicuously pres- ent in the right hind foot and wanting in the left foot of the same animal, shows that in that species at least this mark is not reliable. The same thing may occur in other deer, but I have heard of no example of it unless it be in the Woodland Caribou. I have not had an opportunity to examine the feet of the Wood- land Caribou, but Dr. Gilpin informs me that he finds these glands in the hind feet of this animal and not in the fore feet of the adult, though he found them distinct though very small in a fawn of this species, which suggested to him the possibility that they might be present in the fawns and become obliterated in the adult. This I understand also corresponds with the obser- vations of Mr. Morrow of Halifax. My examination of the wild reindeer which I brought from Norway shows that they agree with the Woodland Caribou in having the interdigital glands in the hind feet and not in the fore feet. From the many specimens examined of our Elk, I think I may safely say that this gland is entirely wanting in all of its feet ; at least I have never found a vestige of it in any specimen. The cleft or indentation between the phalangeal bones is very deep, but that is all. I have no reliable informa,tion whether this gland is present in any of the feet of the Moose or not, and so must leave that to future observations. 266 THE DEER OF AMERICA. That the odor emitted by these glands is left upon the track of the deer may be presumed, but as the trail of other animals not provided with these organs seems to be as readily followed by the hounds, we may safely conclude that they are not the only sources of the scent left in the track. The capacity of an animal to leave a scent which may be followed by an enemy, would seem to be detrimental to its safety or well being, es- pecially in a wild state, but it is common to most if not all ter- restrial animals. There are compensating advantages, no doubt, at least to some extent, for it enables them to find companions which they might otherwise seek in vain. Whatever may be the uses of these glands, certain it is that they are very active, constantly secreting matter ; and this, in every case where I have examined the live or recently killed animal, emits a pungent odor. I prefer rather to give the facts, than to advance or maintain doubtful theories. The longer and the more minutely I have examined this gland- ular system on the hind legs of the different species of this genus, the more I have become impressed with its importance in the division into or identification of species. As Dr. Gray justly remarked, they are not transient, or exceptional, like the antlers, but are present on both sexes and at all ages, and had he studied them with care he would have added that they are as near alike as possible on each individual of each species, and that those on the outside of the legs, when present, are entirely unlike on the different species ; so that upon an examination of the part of the skin containing this gland, no one familiar with the subject could hesitate to declare with certainty from which species it came. Hardly any other single mark pervading so many species is so i"e- liable as this, and certainly none of so small dimensions. The tail of the mule deer, no doubt, will always declare itself, and so will the foot of the caribou ; but still they vary in size even propor- tionately, while this gland is so exact that from it alone one may closely approximate the size of the animal. Should I be presented with a piece of skin, containing a gland similar to the one which I have above described, yet differing from it, I should conclude that it came from some distant country, and that other distinc- tions would probably be found establishing a species differing from any of ours. As, for instance, should I find one resembling that on our Virginia deer, but without the white band, or es- pecially with a black band around it, or one otherwise corre- THE GLANDS. 267 spending to that of the mule deer or the Columbia deer, with either a white or a black band around it, I could not hesitate to declare that it belonged to neither of those species, nor yet to any of the others which I have described. It will be observed that there is a great similarity in the color, and not a very wide difference in the extent of the tufts over the metatarsal glands on the Virginia deer and the wapiti, while they differ widely in their location, and especially in that on the latter the gland is entirely overgrown with the white hairs, while on the former the gland is covered with a horny scale and is en- tirely destitute of hairs, except around its outer and nearly dor- mant border upon which most of the white hairs grow. In the mule and the Columbia deer they closely resemble each other, in shape and location, and differ principally in extent, and appreciably in color ; and this is so marked on all the individuals of each species, as to separate them widely, and leave no difficulty in determining as to which any given specimen belonged. If from the fawn of -the mule deer and so no larger than from an adult black-tailed deer, the entire absence of the horny crust, or concentrated exudation from the gland, would remove all doubt as to where it should be placed. I now see that I have omitted to mention in the proper place, that this horny crust does not appear upon the fawn, but later, after the secretions of the gland have been emitted and concen- trated, and this increases in thickness and in" density with the age of the animal. Once I had three female black-tailed deer sent me from Ore- gon, by Dr. Plummer. The long voyage told severely upon them, and all arrived very poor, and one sick. In defiance of the most careful attention, she continued ill for two months, when she dropped two fawns. She lived a month longer and died. The fawns were scarcely a third the natural size and were unable to ■stand, but when fed with warm cows' milk they were soon able to stagger about, but both died in a couple of days. On both these premature fawns, as I suspect they were, the metatarsal glands were entirely overgrown with soft, fine hairs. About a month later both the other does dropped a fawn each, which were small and emaciated, but I think mature, on which this gland was naked, in the middle at least, but appeared to be more encroached upon by fine, short hairs than on the adults. These fine hairs soon disappeared from the spaces where there are no hairs on the adults. These seemed to thrive moderately well for about four 268 THE DEER OF AMERICA. months, and till they had shed their ornamental coat, which was replaced by a full coat of bay red hairs, when they died, and their skins were added to the Smithsonian collection. From the fact observed, as above stated, we may infer, that when the coat of hairs appears on the foetal fawn, it pervades the whole surface of the gland, but that even before birth it ordinarily disappears, at least partially, and very soon after to the same ex- tent as on the adult. Those acquainted with the subject will rec- ognize that this is not an uncommon occurrence to foetal growth ; still it seems to me not without interest in connection with the other facts I have stated, of the present condition of this glandular system on the different species of which I particularly treat. GEOUPINGS. I HAVE already shown that there are many means which we might adopt for classifying the deer of our country, but none which would be completely satisfactory. If we make a class of those whose antlers are palmated, and another of those whose antlers are cylindrical, we should find ourselves in harmony with another mode of classification, for on all the former, the metatar- sal gland is wanting, while it is present on all those which have cylindrical antlers. In this first class, I repeat, we include the largest and the smallest of the species, that is, the moose and the Acapulco deer, and it would also embrace the reindeer. Al- though the palmatation is less pronounced on the smallest species, it is very distinct on the upper part of the antlers of the adult, being fiattened out, almost like a knife blade. THE GENITALS. The genital organs afford us another and very distinct mode of classification, as will be seen by a more particular description of them. On all, the scrotum is moderately pendent, more so than that of the horse, but less so than that of the bull, the ram, or the goat, and it is much less in size than on either of these. It en- larges very decidedly during the rut. On the Moose the theca extends up the abdomen about half way to the umbilicus and terminates with a simple orifice without a prepuce. The same description answers for the Caribou as well. On the Elk, the theca extends up the abdomen appreciably further than on either of the others, fully two thirds of the way or more to the umbilicus, much like that of the bull, terminating also without a prepuce, but at times during the rut the limp male organ is partially exposed, which might be mistaken by a casual observer for a very conspicuous prepuce. On neither is there a tuft of long hairs at the orifice of the theca as is seen on the bull. In these characteristics, I find the European elk to correspond with our moose, the reindeer of Lapland to agree with our caribou, and the red deer of Europe to be like our wapiti. 270 THE DEER OF AMERICA. In all the other species of our country the theca extends up the abdomen hardly at all, but is quite detached from it, and drops down vertically close to the scrotum, to a length of two inches or more. From this case, ordinarily, the penis does not entirely retreat. This is a feature which I have not elsewhere met among ruminants ; nor do I remember to have observed it on any other quadruped. Here, then, is a very distinguishing characteristic common to all the lesser species of the deer, while the three larger species resemble in this part of their organization most other rumi- nants. There is nothing remarkable in the location of the female organs of any of the species, except in our Elk. In her this organ is situated much further below the anus than in the other species. It is so far down that it is not covered by the short tail of the animal, which, as we have seen, is about four inches long.. In this respect, that is, in the length of the tail, the red deer differs from the Wapiti. In the former, the tail is generally sufficiently long to cover the female organ. GAIT. In beauty of both form and motion the Virginia Deer far sur- passes either of the other species of the genus. Its slender, deli- cate legs, and its symmetrical proportions, make it an object of universal admiration ; but it is the indescribable ease and grace of its motion which fill one with absolute delight. These I have already described on page 165, in connection with the ornamental coat of this fawn, which have always associated themselves in my mind, each seeming to add a charm to the other. It is un- necessary to repeat here what was there said of the graceful step of the fawn of the Virginia Deer. The trot, both of the fawn and the adult, frequently varies to a graceful amble when it is about to stop, but does not change to that pace when it is about to increase its speed. When startled by surprise the Virginia Deer's first gait is a canter, which it pursues for two, three, or four jumps, when it makes a high, long leap, as if to enable itself to take a broader survey of surrounding objects ; then follow a few of the ordinary lower and shorter jumps, which are again succeeded by the high, long leaps, and so on till it becomes satisfied that its apprehensions are groundless, when it subsides to a trot or amble, and then stops, with head GAIT. 271 and ears erect, and looks with great earnestness at the object which startled it. If, however, it is pursued by a dog, for in- stance, it runs at great speed, with a low, long gallop, entirely omitting the high leaps, which but impede his progress. These are never repeated when the deer is running at speed. In a large majority of cases, in all of these paces, the Virginia Deer elevates its tail, all the hairs of which are radiated, or spread out, so as to form a very conspicuous white object as it wags from side to side, but at high speed the tail is less elevated, and the wagging motion is less observed than when at a more mod- erate pace, and quite often when running the tail is carried close down, and all hunters know that, when a deer is wounded, it will drop its tail and switch it from side to side when it runs away, and by this means they judge whether the game is hit or not, as has been already explained. In addition to the gaits above specified, this deer has a slow, quiet walk, and a leisurely short trot, as for instance, when he sees corn in my hand which he is invited to come for, or falls a little behind his fellows, and wishes to overtake them. He rarely goes out of a walk when passing from one part of the grounds to another of his own volition. There is another step taken by the Virginia Deer which displays a graceful elasticity, which must be mentioned to complete the description of its locomotion. When standing at a little distance from a passer-by, and staring with a timid look, as if suspicious, but not really alarmed, it will quickly raise one fore foot, suspend it for a ilioment, the foot itself pendent, and then quickly drop it to the ground with a threatening stamp, and then repeat the same motions with the other foot, again bringing it to the ground with a stamp in a threatening way, as if to try the courage of the exciting object. This motion may terminate with a stand still and an earnest gaze, or in the graceful trot above described, or he may rush away with a loud whistle or snort. The gaits of the Acapulco Deer and of the Ceylon Deer are the same as those of the Virginia deer, only they are less grace- ful and agile. When they run the back assumes more of a con- vex curvature. They run, however, with great speed, especially the Ceylon Deer. I have no observations indicating whether they are capable of maintaining this high speed for a great length of time. Their shorter legs and shorter, thicker bodies explain the want of that graceful elasticity observed in the Virginia deer. There is nothing graceful or attractive in any of the paces of 272 THE DEER OF AMERICA. the Mule Deer, according to iny appreciation, though less so in the wild state than in semi-domestication. It has an awkward and shambling walk, and its trot is still less to be admired. Mollie, an old doe, was fond of following me around the grounds when I was riding in a buggy, and when she had to trot to keep up, she presented so ludicrous an object as to be quite laughable. I never saw her or any other adult of the species in my grounds at full speed, but I have seen the wild deer in the mountains when fleeing from danger. Then it is that the gait exactly resembles that of the musk deer (^Mosohus moschiferus, Linn.), of the Him- alayas. It is not a leap but a bound, all the feet leaving and striking the ground at the same time. These bounds display wonderful elasticity for a time, but after a while they seem to become fatiguing, and the stride becomes less, and the speed slackens. It is evident that this motion is less adapted to a long and rapid flight than the long, leaping gait of the Virginia deer. The fawns, when started from their concealment in my grounds, would spring up with a high bound, alighting on all the feet at once, and bound away with astonishing swiftness in the same way as the adults. The walk, the gallop, the trot, and the bound, as above described, are the only paces I have observed practiced by the Mule Deer. The three first are always performed in a lazy, leisurely way, and the last is resorted to only in alarm and ex- citement. The same description may be given to the gait of the Colum- bia Black-tailed Deer, except that the walk may be a little slower and more deliberate, and the trot is less awkward and less frequently practiced. Notwithstanding this apparent want of elasticity in the motions of these two species as compared with the Virginia deer, they are much more inclined to leap fences. Mollie would leap a fence four feet high into a yard, the gate of which was open, as soon as go six feet further to pass through the gate, and Albert, the Black-tailed buck, would climb up four feet upon the hay which had been left against the fence, eight feet high, and jump into the road, appearing as indifferent to the drop of eight feet upon the frozen ground, as if it were but two feet. Their strong bony legs seem to stand them well in hand on such occasions. I have seen the Black-tailed buck at full speed. When I was quietly standing near the edge of the bluff in the North Park, he came rushing up the steep hill at a fearful rate, and was about to pass me when I spoke to him. He at once stopped his tremendous bounds, and walked up to me, not GAIT. 273 rapidly, but in an agitated way, as if glad of my protection. Something must have greatly alarmed him, though I could not discover what it was. His tail was elevated, though not vertical, and the hairs spread out, as described on the Virginia deer, under similar circumstances. His bounds were on all the feet at once, precisely as described for the mule deer. I repeat, I think the paces of the two species, as well as the antlers, are as nearly alike as possible, and quite unlike those of any of the other species. The Moose walks, trots, gallops, and makes long horizontal leaps. When pressed his principal gait is a long, swinging, and rapid trot. He thus passes through deep snows, over the high trunks of fallen trees, and through thick brush in a manner truly aston- ishing. He very rarely resorts to a running gait, unless when thrown off his balance by excitement, as when charging an ad- versary. His stealthy and rapid walk when he sees or smells approaching danger is .well calculated to astonish the hunter. The latter gets a glimpse of the game, and supposing himself un- observed, thinks it cannot escape without his knowledge, and com- mences stalking it, while the animal snuffs the taint in the air and stealthily glides away almost before his eyes and at a rapid rate, without the least rustling among the leaves or the crack- ing of a twig, and is miles away before his escape is even sus pected. All agree that the Moose will escape with great celerity and without noise over ground where an Indian with moccasoned feet could not go without being heard, unless at a very slow and cautious rate. The gaits of the Caribou are, the walk, the trot, and the run, or gallop. When undisturbed and migrating from place to place, the gait is invariably a walk, unless one lags behind the band to pick up some choice morsel which has tempted it, when it may strike into a moderate trot to overtake its companions. When the Reindeer becomes alarmed, he will strike into a long swing- ing trot, which he maintains for hours, and he allows nothing to divert him, till he has fairly left the country, or at least till he has placed many miles between himself and the object which alarmed him. His ordinary traveling gait then, is a walk ; when in haste he trots, but when greatly alarmed he runs with speed. When Captain Hardy missed his first Caribou, which was lying down in the snow, he says: " Up they jumped, five of them, ap- parently rising from all directions around us, and, after a brief stare, made off in long graceful bounds." ^ Before, on p. 230, 1 Forest Life in Acadie, London ed., p. 148. 18 274 THE BEER OF AMERICA. he says : " The pace of the Caribou, when started is like that of the Moose, — a long steady trot, breaking into a brisk walk, at intervals, as the point of alarm is left behind. He some- times gallops, or rather bounds for a short distance at first. This the Moose never does." The paces of the Wapiti Deer are, the walk, the trot, and the gallop, or run. When moving voluntarily, not hastened by any sense of alarm, his pace is always a walk. This may be very rapid if bent on changing his feeding grounds to a distant region. This is always done in the night, and even when feeding by the way he frequently will cover an immense distance in a single night. But he is a natural trotter. This is the gait which he always adopts when fleeing from danger, unless he is thrown off his feet, when he may break into a run ; but this is so unnatural a gait for him that if he is fat it soon worries him and breaks him down. When the animal is lean, and so it is with the young animal, he is much more inclined to break his trot and adopt the running gait. He can run faster than he can trot, and if in con- dition to maintain that pace it increases his chances for escape, but when the fat buck is once forced into a run, he must soon come to bay. On this subject Colonel Dodge ^ says : " Singular as it may ap- pear, plains hunters are equally divided in opinion as to the gait of the Elk when going at his best speed. Some old hunters who have bagged their hundreds of Elk, stoutly maintain that the Elk only trots when at his best pace ; while other equally good authorities insist that he runs like a deer. The truth is, both are somewhat right and both wrong. The Elk trots with great speed, and this seems to be his easiest and most natural gait. He can, however, and does run much faster than he can trot, but it is a great effort and soon tires him out." In my grounds the Elk have learned to come to the call, though in the summer timej when the weather is warm and the pas- turage is abundant, the keeper may call till he is hoarse, before one will get up in the cool shade, but when the weather gets cooler, they will come towards him in a slow, lazj^ walk, but after the frost has come, and they have had a few tastes of maize (an old one will crunch an ear ten inches long, and an inch and a half in diameter, without making two bites of it), they answer with alacrity though half a mile away. The whole herd will start at first quite leisurely ; presently, one or two will strike a 1 The Plains ofths Great West, p. 164. GAIT. ■ 275 trot, when all will do so, except the young ones, which break into a run. The pace is increased by all, till they reach a bluff, or ravine, when all break into a furious run, and come thundering down the cliff like an avalanche. When you see forty or fifty Elk, more than one fourth of them having huge antlers, come rushing down towards you, you feel glad there is a good fence in front of you. Such a sight is worth going many miles to see. When chasing a dog in the grounds, or when pursuing each other in animosity, they always run. The Elk is undoubtedly a natural trotter, and Colonel Dodge says : " I believe an Elk will trot across ordinary prairie at the rate of about a mile in three minutes thirty seconds." There is, however, about the same difference in speed among Elk as among horses. HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. All of the deer family are easily tamed. In a wild state they flee from man and all their natural enemies, and except during the rutting season they are peaceable among themselves. When stimulated and even goaded on by their passions during the rut, the males become very belligerent towards each other, but this arises from jealousy or rivalry alone, for even at this season their timidity generally restrains them from attacking other animals. THE MOOSE. From this general remark we may possibly except the Moose, whose great size and strength emboldens him in rare instances so as to make him voluntarily attack even men, during the rutting season. Dr. Gilpin says : " Towards the end of the rut some few bulls become infuriated, attacking the cow equally with the bull, — attacking everything." 1 Some other authors make simi- lar statements ; but the general conclusion is that the Moose very rarely attacks the hunter in the woods unless he is both wounded and very hardly pressed, seeing no reasonable chance for escape. He does not attack from rage or for revenge but for defense. There are, however, a few cases recorded where the wounded Moose has pursued and attacked the hunter, but such cases are very exceptional. In domestication, like the other members of this family, they lose their fear of man to a certain extent, when, at particular seasons, they are inclined to attack him. Mr. Mor- row writes me : " When a boy, I recollect that a Moose which was brought from the country in a semi-domesticated state and kept in a barn adjoining my father's house (I think in the latter part of the month of September), would attack any one who, while visiting it, showed any signs of fear." We may safely con- clude that it is not from an innocent disposition but from a lack of courage that they do not attack the hunter in the forest. From timidity or fear they flee from him. If this is lost by intercourse with him, their naturally wicked disposition asserts itself. This timidity is much overcome, no doubt, by the stimulant of desire during the rut, but it is not destroyed. Then they are the more easily provoked and are much the most dangerous. Then they 1 On the Mammalia of Nova Scotia, p. in. HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 277 will attack an enemy or defend themselves under circumstances, when they would only think of escape at other seasons. The female also loses her timidity sometimes, and becomes courageous and even desperate in defense of her young. Mr. Gilpin, son of Dr. Gilpin, of Halifax, once met one when hunting small game, that charged him on sight, most furiously, but he had the presence of mind to meet the charge with his fowling piece, and severed her windpipe with a charge of shot. Her fawn was too young to escape, and in her maternal solicitude she forgot her fears of even her most dreaded enemy. These deer are less migratory than the caribou, and so con- fine their range to more limited areas, nor are they so easily driven away from their usual haunts by the encroachments of the white settler. Though very wary and ever on the look-out for an enemy, they will listen with complacency to the distant sound of the woodman's axe, the rambling of the railroad train, or the sound of the whistle of the engine, without being driven to another country, or even being much disturbed. The Moose has often been reared and tamed in this country ; but I know of no systematic attempt to domesticate them, nor have I ever heard of their breeding in domestication. They have been sometimes broken to the harness and proved them- selves able to draw good loads ; and yet I know of no regular effort that has been made to reduce them to servitude. When tamed, they are reasonably docile, except the males during the rutting season, when, as might be suspected, they become fero- cious, and should be kept in close quarters where they can do no harm. If castrated young, and early taught obedience to man, we may not doubt that they would readily submit to his domin- ion, and their great strength would give promise of useful beasts of draught, especially in countries where deep snows prevail, through which they pass with facility where ordinary cattle could make no progress. Of his European brother, Louis Figuier, in " Mammalia," says : " The elk when caught young may be completely tamed with- out difficulty. It recognizes the person who takes care of it and will follow him like a dog, manifesting considerable joy on see- ing him after a separation. It goes in harness as well as a rein- deer, and can thus perform long journeys. ¥ov two or three centuries it was used for this purpose in Sweden, but the custom is now given up." If in this the learned author is not mistaken, then the Swedish Elk at that time must have been bred in do- 278 THE DEER OF AMERICA. mestication, else sufficient stock could not have been procured for general use. If once fairly subjected to domestication and use it may be difficult to understand why it was given up in a country so well adapted to its use. On this subject we may receive the statement of Mr. Lloyd in explanation. He says : " Formerly these animals were made use of in Sweden to draw sledges ; but owing, as it was said, to their speed frequently accelerating the escape of people who had been guilty of murders or other crimes, their use was prohibited under great penalties. Though I ap- prehend those ordinances, if not abrogated are obsolete, I am not aware that the elk are ever made use of in that kingdom at the present day either to draw a sledge or for other domestic purposes." i Again, in a subsequent and more elaborate work,^ the same author says : " The elk can be easily domesticated. Several instances have come to my knowledge, when brought up from a tender age, have become nearly as tame as the cattle, with which they were, not unfrequently, allowed to consort and pasture. But I never heard of this animal being trained to har- ness as formerly was often the case in Scandinavia." It is to be deeply regretted that some one, in a locality in this country adapted to their natural wants, has not thoroughly tried the experiment of domesticating our Moose, and determined the practicability of breeding them in domestication and of their uses. We may fear that there would be found difficulty in pro- curing an abundance of their favorite food, around habitations or in enclosures, but as we shall presently see that our elk is healthy and thrives well on herbaceous food almost entirely, so it might prove that the Moose can prosper on a less proportion of arboreous food than he gets in the wild state. One of the most remarkable features of this deer, which dis- tinguishes it from all our other species, is its monogamous habit. While seeking a companion during the rutting season the male is no doubt very much in earnest, and manifests a high state of ex- citement. When he finds himself accepted by an agreeable part- ner they retire to a deep, secluded thicket in low marshy ground, where they spend their honeymoon of three or four weeks quite contented with each other's society, never leaving the locality, the male at least scarcely taking food, living a rather quiet and re- spectable life, quite in contrast to the one he led while he was a roving bachelor seeking an associate. If, however, his quiet pri- 1 Fidd Sports of the North of Europe, p. 331. ^ Scandinavian Adventures, 2d edition, London, 1854, p. 102. HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 279 vacy is disturbed by a rival, his fierceness and rage are at once kindled into a fury, and he goes to meet the foe beyond the pre- cinct of his lair. In his private retreat he paws up the soft, moist earth till he makes a considerable excavation, in vrhich lie wallows, having sprinkled it with his urine, and which becomes scented with a verj' powerful odor which is said to be so offen- sive that none but an Indian cares to encounter it. It is interest- ing to observe how exactly the habits of his European congener correspond with those of the Moose in this extraordinary feature. Mr. Lloyd says : " Although just prior to the rutting season the males wander greatly in search of mates, j'et as soon as they have found a partner the pair retire together to a dense brake, gener- ally consisting of fir or spruce, in the wildest recesses of the for- est. Here the male forms a gross or cavity in the ground, which he very plentifully besprinkles with urine, and hence the term gross. It is said that for some three weeks, during which the ratting season continues, the pair confine themselves to the imme- diate vicinity of the spot, to within a space, indeed, of some few feet in diameter, which spot of their own accord, they will on no account desert ; and even should they be scared from thence by people or dogs, they will, as soon as the pursuit has ceased, return to it again. Several pair of elk are sometimes found near to the gross, the selection of which is frequently made known by the males scoring the small trees in the vicinitj'- with their horns, or it may be in twisting them in the manner of withs." ^ Here is an exact correspondence in habit with the Moose in a very ex- traordinary disposition, which is something more than acciden- tal, occurring with animals separated by a great ocean, which of itself would suggest a near relationship. We are even more sur- prised at the detail than at the monogamic habit itself, still this is exceedingly exceptional among quadrupeds, although quite common among birds. This habit is said to be sometimes ob- served among the monkey tribes, and there is One other species of deer, in which it is more marked than in 0. aloes, that is the roe-deer of Europe, where the male and female, once having made their selection, continue constant to each other through life, ever associating together, eschewing the society of all others even of their own kind, except their own offspring, to the care of which both parents devote themselves, as we have seen in another place. But to return to the Moose. During this connubial period the male Moose becomes emaci- 1 Scandinavian Adventures, by L. JAoyi, 2d London ed., 1854, vol. ii., p. 100. 280 THE DEER OF AMERICA. ated, and at its termination retires to still deeper seclusion, where with returned appetite he tries to recruit his flesh and strength, wherewith to meet the rigors of winter ; but if he be an old buck he but partially succeeds in this, and if the hunter has to depend on his flesh to supply his camp he needs sharp teeth and a good appetite to make it tender and delicious. The rutting season with the old animals commences in Sep- tember and the fawns are dropped in May. With young ani- mals this season is later with both sexes. In general it may be said to commence at the time the antlers of the males are di- vested of their velvet, and this remark is equally applicable to all of this great family of ruminants, though, as I have shown else- where, they are capable of procreation at any other season of the year, and when opport^unities are wanting at the proper season they at least sometimes breed at other times of the year. THE CAEIBOTJ. Of the disposition of our Caribou I know nothing frOm my own observation, and learn nothing from others, except of their fear of man and their efforts to escape his pursuit. I find no rec- ord of a manifestation of courage even in desperate circum- stances, and I learn nothing from the hunters of such an occur- ence. Of the domesticated reindeer, in Northern Europe, which is identical in species with ours, we know that they frequently become dangerous during the rut, and even at other seasons they sometimes become unmanageable and attack their driver, but this frenzied state lasts but a short time, and they are soon induced to resume the journey. As only the castrated reindeer are worked in harness by the Lapps, this vicious disposition which thus sometimes manifests itself when at work should be considered exceptional did we not remember that the operation of emasculation is very imperfectly performed , so that the stim- ulating, or provoking influence is still felt, at least partially. In all of the species with which I have experimented in this direc- tion, after complete emasculation every vestige of wickedness seems to be eradicated, and scarcely any courage, even, seems to be left ; and I doubt much if the reindeer should be considered . exceptional in this regard. But few efforts have been made to domesticate either species of our Caribou. The Woodland Caribou, at least, seems to be a wild, restless animal, even during the winter ranging through wide districts of coimtry, and often changing his home, and very sus- HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 281 picious and wary. An alarm, from which the moose would only flee a few miles, will send away the Caribou a whole day, at a rapid pace, which takes him quite out of the country, and defies the pursuit of the hunter. These are characteristics which do not promise well for their domestication. When raised as pets, like all the other deer, they lose their fear of man and become very tame, and systematic effort through a long course of years might, no doubt, bring them to a state of semi-domestication, which, after all, is about as much as can be said of the domesti- cated reindeer of Northern Europe and Asia. There is no other domestic animal which propagates its species in that condition which retains so much of its wild nature as these reindeer. This possibly may be accounted for by the frequent intermixture of wild blood among the domestic herds, which is said to be en- couraged by the Lapps, as it is supposed to infuse vigor into the stock. This is not a difficult end to accomplish, as the wild deer often range the same mountains which are inhabited by the tame. The domestication of our Caribou should only be attempted in situations where the climate and food are adapted to the well being of the animal in the wild state. In the few instances recorded, or of which I have heard, no attempt has been made to breed them in the domestic state, but they have been simply kept as pets, or for exhibition. So far as I am informed, most of the efforts to transport them to Europe have failed, they dying during the voyage. This may, possibly, have resulted from a neglect to take along the reindeer moss, which, as I have shown, is indispensable to the health of the European reindeer, whether tame or wild. It is not too late yet for a fair trial of the experiment of domesticating this deer ; still it might be better to try and import those already domesticated from Lapland, and if the greater size of the Caribou be desired they could be bred to them. I am a little surprised that the Hudson's Bay Company, which has ever shown remarkable enter- prise and perseverance in the conduct of its business, has never imported the reindeer for transportation purposes, wherever the proper food is found, as they would certainly be more economical than dogs for that purpose. THE ELK, OR WAPITI DESK. I have had a good opportunity to study the disposition of our Elk and of all the other smaller species in my own grounds. After all it is only in semi-domestication that we are enabled to 282 THE DEER OF AMERICA. sufficiently observe the animal in various circumstances and con- ditions, to determine his real nature. There is not the least reason to believe that our Elk have ever shown belligerent dispositions in the wild state, except towards each other. Although very powerful animals, they are timid and wary. They do not confine themselves to a limited range, but are liable to roam over extensive districts of country : now high up the mountains, again in the deep canons or fertile valleys, and again, far out on the plains along the borders of some water- course. When carefully studied in parks, they manifest dispositions not altogether lovely, nor yet desperately wicked. The males show no sense of gallantry towards the females, nor do any of them manifest a sympathy for each other. At any time the buck will drive the doe ruthlessly from any choice thing she may be eating, in his brutish selfishness, having not the least regard for anything but his own gratification. Even in the season of love, as we shall see, he rules his harem with a brutal despotism, without the least manifestation of affection. Even with the females, only the maternal instinct shows any trait of tenderness or regard for the comfort or welfare of another. Indeed, the doe is much more likely to ill treat a young member of the fam- ily, not her own, than a buck. If the latter will drive it away quietly, the former will hit it a fearful bat if it comes in her way, and if she knocks it down, she will very likely stamp it to death. I have lost two Elk, less than a year old, by being thus roughly handled. One had received a blow on the back, and it never again rose to its feet without assistance. When it was re- ported to me as ill, I went and examined it. Suspecting the trouble, I pressed my finger along the spinal column without its flinching, till two thirds back from the shoulders to the hips, when it fairly screamed, in so piercing a tone that it startled me, and its whole frame quivered from the pain. It must have been a fearful blow to have thus disabled the poor thing. It died in two days in spite of all I could do for it. The other I found bruised in a frightful way, indicating that it had been murdered in malicious wickedness. I am sorry to write such unkind things of pets, for which I have kindly cared for so many years, but I must tell the truth. I think the females show more real courasre than the males. I was once driving through the park, when we observed an old doe whose anxious look excited suspicion ; we hitched the horses, and HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 283 commenced a search for a fawn ; at last we saw it curled up in the leaves, perhaps two hundred feet from the dam, who faced us ■ all the while. When she saw we had discovered it, and were going towards it, she uttered a succession of threatening squeals which sounded to us anything but musical, at the same time walking slowly towards us, with an air and a gleam of the eye not to be mistaken. We did not count the spots on that fawn that day, but retreated in as good order as possible with our faces to the foe. My friend, who was not used to the animal, remarked — while I was admonishing him to show no signs of fear but to retire as if it was quite voluntary — "I would give a big check to be in that buggy now ! " Had we run from her, we might not have won the race without trouble. At another time, when alone, I came across an old doe which was very tame, and which I had very often fed from my hand. She was licking her young fawn, probably not two hours old. I spoke to her kindly, as usual, and she received me with great cordiality, and when I petted her baby, and even lifted it to its feet, she seemed pleased with my attentions, and rather proud of her offspring. She had no fear that I would hurt her darling, but rather remembered the many ears of corn 1 had given her, and no doubt expected some then, as usual. It evidently did not occur to her that I could hurt anything. She associated nothing of harm with my presence, while in the other case, the mother thought of nothing else, when she observed that we had found her fawn. This one was never tame like the other, and so had never received so many of my favors. But the amiable one was not always amiable, and not always to be trusted. I once came across her when walking through the park with my little daugh- ter. I left her feeding the Elk, and walked away, perhaps to pick some wild flower, and turned round just as the brute struck at the child ; fortunately, she was not quite in reach. I spoke to her in no very mild terms, and the blow was not repeated. There was manifested a disposition to strike the child simply because she knew it was unable to protect itself. The animosity to dogs seems to be much stronger in the fe- males, and appears to be all the same with those that have young and those that have not. If a dog gets into the park the does always lead the chase, while the bucks go lumbering along be- hind, as if rather to see the result than to join in the fray. While the females show the ferocity of tigers, the bucks do not seem to care very much whether the dog gets away or not. It 284 THE DEER OF AMERICA. is the females that rush at the fence to get at the dog on the opposite side, -while the males stand back and treat the matter with apparent indifference. If a dog gets into the park and first meets a band of buck Elk, they will take fright and break away towards the does ; but, when he falls in with even a single doe, the white patch upon the rump rises up immediately ; her eyes flash with rage, and, without an instant's hesitation, she pitches at him, while the bucks will fall in the rear, and perhaps stop or follow up, rather than join in the chase. Indeed, I am obliged to say that the buck Elk is not only extremely selfish and tyran- nical, but, as is usual with tyrants, is . an arrant coward. He may be ferocious, but not courageous. Neither in the wild or the domestic state will he make an effort to protect or defend either the young or the female, but seems willing to sacrifice them all for his own safety. Individuals differ very much in their dispositions, some being much more vicious than others, or rather some being naturally very wicked, while a large majority show no such disposition. I have had more than one hundred in my grounds altogether, and yet I never had but two that were positively. wicked. These reached as near the point of total depravity during the rutting season as I think it possible for a brute to do. Both these animals I purchased with four does. They were probably raised by hand, which, as we shall see, tends to divest all the deer fam- ily of their natural fear of man, which allows their native vicious- ness to manifest itself, which is very apt to happen, at least with the males, during the rut. This, no doubt, tended to aggravate the innate wickedness of these Elk, but is quite insufficient to explain it all. I had previously had a very fine specimen, five years old, which had not only been brought up by hand, but kept in a show for a long time, and, although during the rut he would make ugly faces, utter the threatening squeal, and make threatening gestures, especially to strangers, he never made an assault upon any one, and not only his keeper but strangers were in the habit of going through the park at all seasons. The fall after he was three years old, having returned home after a short absence, I went into the park and met the Elk which proved to be so wicked. During my absence, he had shed the velvet from his antlers, which were now well polished. As soon as he saw me he walked towards me in a confident and rather impudent way. I picked up a hickorj'^ club I found near, and stepped behind a small tree, which he directly straddled HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 285 with his antlers, and tried to reach me, not very viciously, but still in an unpleasant way. I struck him a good blow on the head, the force of which, however, was principally spent on his antlers. The only effect was to increase his efforts to reach me. I did not much like the situation and proposed a compromise. I threw down an ear of corn a little to one side which he readily took, and another thrown still further away was accepted as a peace offering. When he had finished them he walked quietly away, and as I could not remember any other important busi- ness in the park just then I concluded to return home. I gave orders to have all the Elk turned into the North Park the next morning, the propriety of which was the more apparent when I learned that he had run every man out of the park that went into it that same evening. In the morning he was absolutely furious, and would rush against the fence with great force, at the sight of a man on the opposite side, and would follow him along the fence, fighting it all the way, and by this means alone was he transferred from the South to the North Park, and led to the north part of it quite out of the way, while the balance of the herd were trans- ferred to the same inclosure, the gates securely locked, and the fence examined and repaired with the utmost care. If he did not grow more vicious as the season advanced it was simply because there was no room for him to do so. IJe was already at the extreme point of wickedness, and so he could not go beyond it. He was truly terrible. All visitors were of course excluded from the North Park, and every possible notice given of the danger of invading it. Within a month three men, who thought they knew best and were not afraid of anybody's Elk, scaled the fence, and quietly walked along till they met the herd of Elk, when the leader started after them in a very dignified walk. They thought they had seen enough, and commenced an orderly retreat. The Elk increased his pace, and soon treed two of the party and killed the other. One of them, a young, active, athletic man, left his tree and by running from tree to tree finally escaped, gave the alarm, raised a party who fought the Elk with pitch-forks till they finally drove him off, although at first he drove the three resolute active men, thus armed, several hundred feet before they could sufficiently break his guard to compel him to acknowledge the virtues of their sharp hay-forks. He did not charge upon them with a rush, in the ordinary mode of joining battle practiced by all 286 THE DEER OF AMERICA. the deer, but lowered his head so as to bring his face nearly par- allel with the ground, presenting his great antlers to the enemy, rendering it difficult for the men to reach him with their weap- ons. In order to see before him he was obliged to turn his head more or less sideways when one of the antlers would reach the ground and raise the head somewhat. At length tlie flankers were enabled to reach him low down back of the fore leg, where the skin is thin. This caused him to give way and finallj' to re- tire, but slowly and sullenly and without flight. We may well suppose that under the circumstances, trying to drive an infuri- ated brute from a dying man, they struck heavy blows with their sharp forks, either one of which would no doubt have killed a horse or an ox, and yet they barely sufficed to keep this Elk a short distance away. And after the wounded man was placed in the carriage and guarded by all but the driver he followed them closely and threateningly till they passed out of the gate, and they no doubt felt relieved when the high fence was between them. After they left he seemed beside himself with rage, and towards evening, when his keeper, who had often piinished him severely with the fork, was walking along the fence, he rushed at him as if he desired an opportunity to settle all scores at once, and no doubt he would have done so could he have got at him. The keeper passed down the fence, the deer following screaming with rage all the way to an opening left for the smaller deer. Through this he thrust his face, when the man struck him with all his might with a heavy hickory club with the purpose of kill- ing him if possible. The blow staggered him, but that wa? all. The man quickly passed through the opening to repeat the blow before the brute could recover. The punishment was so severe that the Elk retired a little way and would retreat so long as he was pursued, but so soon as the man turned to leave the park the brute followed, though at a respectful distance. The next morning I went with the keeper and two other ac- tive men and castrated the buck. We had no trouble to catch him, for so soon as we came in sight outside the park he rushed to the fence and tried to break through. The keeper had but to get on to the upper rail and with a strong rope throw a noose over the end of one antler below the first prong while the ani- mal was making frantic efforts to reach him. So soon as this was done we bore willing hands and drew the antler tight against the palings. He made tremendous efforts to break loose, and I expected to see the antler give way, but it held him, al- HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 287 thougli it sprung very mucli under the great strain, nor would he break his neck, a result which I rather desired. After he had become well worried I took a long chain and after a while suc- ceeded in getting it secured around his neck, and fastened it firmly to a post. We then detached the rope from his antler and went inside and commenced operations to cast him. This we at last succeeded in doing and in tying all his feet firmly to- gether, when the operation was readily performed. We then un- did the chain, and then his feet, and let him up, appreciating that he was too much exhausted and subdued to attack us. Still he retired in good order, and repeatedly looked around savagely, but that was all. By evening, however, he got wicked again and tried to break the fence to reach his keeper. The next day he showed less vicious symptoms, and his wickedness seemed to abate day by day, and by the end of a week all had disappeared and he was ever after as docile as a lamb. This was soon dis- covered by the other buck, which was a year younger and over which he had tyrannized in a lordly way. Long before his antlers dropped off, which occurred in about four weeks, the young fel- low was taking his revenge abundantly, and my sympathies were very little excited, when I saw him chasing the old tyrant through the brush at a rattling pace, whenever he ventured near the harem, the government of which the young buck assumed and exercised with the same despotism which had characterized the rule of the other. This was in September, the height of the rutting season. In a very short time this young buck devel- oped all the wickedness of the first, but as I had no other one old enough for breeding I was obliged to endure him till a year from the first of the next January, when I castrated him also. And now for the last ten years he has been the tamest and most inoffensive Elk in the band. Even the monarch holds him in such contempt that he allows him to run with the does during the rutting season, although if he comes near him he will most likely get an admonition to keep at a respectful distance. I have been thus particular in describing the conduct of these two animals, because it serves to convey a more correct idea of their dispositions than I could give by any general explanation. These, however, must be regarded as showing the extreme of wickedness. The one that succeeded to the rule when he was two years old, after the second was castrated, never offered to attack a person, and manifested about the same disposition as the first which I had, of which I have before spoken. He felt his courage 288 THE DEER OF AMERICA. stimulated, no doubt, during the rutting season, and was as wicked as he need be towards the younger bucks ; nor did I con- sider it safe for a stranger to go into the park, but my own men ■went through it at all times in security. One fall, I sent my teams in to haul stone from the Elk Park during the rutting sea- son. It was manifest he did not like it, but he made no attack upon them, though he would frequently place himself in the road and face them, but would allow them to quietly turn out and drive around him. Of course, they were prepared for emergen- cies, and were ordered to diminish the number by one if he of- fered to attack. The other bucks — and there were at least a dozen about as large as he was — never showed the least vicious- ness at any season, and so it was with the second one during the reign of the first as above described, and yet as soon as he suc- ceeded to the rule his whole disposition seemed changed at once, and he immediately became as bad as the other. As we shall hereafter see, this was the last of my very vicious Elk. I think that the very wicked bucks are exceptional, probably, as much so as vicious bulls among our common stock. We all know that occasionally a bull is met with which will attack any person on sight, still they are generally docile. Perhaps with some limitations, I think the same law governs the Elk, and that we shall rarely find specimens as vicious as those described. The first and finest male Elk I ever had was brought up by hand, was well halter broken, had been constantly handled, and yet he was not vicious in disposition, although he would often make demonstrations towards strangers during the rut. While they seem to have no individual attachments, and no affection for each other, and are very selfish, they are still social in their nature, and so are gregarious in their habits. It is rare to find a soli- tary individual, and then I think it is the result of accident rather than choice. They are easily alarmed, and when one shows signs of fear it instantly communicates itself to the whole band. The first to take alarm is most likely a buck. If they see the keeper coming towards them, and a single one fails to recognize him, and dashes away on that long trot, and with a high head indicating alarm, the chances are that all will take fright and dash away into the woods, or onto the next side-hill, and there stop and turn around to see what frightened them. A few calls and his well known voice is recognized, when they will come towards him. Since the band has got large and they have been more confined to the secluded East Park, those does which were HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 289 formerly so very tame have been less petted and have become more shy, and do not come up to me with the confidence and familiarity they once manifested. I often see the young bucks, that is, those three or four years old and younger, engaged at play with their antlers as if in sham fight, in the fall and winter. Thi,s is the only amusement I have ever seen them engaged in. I have never observed the least dis- position in the young fawns or the does to play together in any way. Our Elk is more polygamous in his habits than any other deer except his congener the Red Deer of Europe (C. elajjJius), or even any other quadruped with whose habits I am acquainted. Although they show such a lack of affection or sympathy for each other individually, still all are generally found together through- out the year till the commencement of the rut, when the master Elk asserts his prerogative, drives from the band all the other bucks, and gathers the does around him and keeps them together as much as possible. During this time the young bucks submit with tolerable grace to this discipline, and mostly keep together by themselves in a distant part of the park, generally with a few does that have eluded the vigilance of the master. But some- times a refractory young fellow will be seen hanging around the skirts of the band of does and gives the despot great trouble, which seems to be a real source of enjoyment to his tormentor. If he shows himself too near, his senior will rush at him w.ith a wild ferocity and chase him, with threatening squeals, perhaps one or two hundred yards, making a terrible crash in the brush during the chase, for the pursued seeks the thickest shrubbery in his flight, and, if hard pressed, the youngster will utter a shrill scream of alarm, but always manages to save his hide, and stops short so soon as the pursuit is over, and follows back pretty close upon the heels of the old buck, who hardly gets his family well collected before his jealousy is again excited by the impertinence of his tormentor, when another rush is made and the maneuver is repeated. Where there are a dozen or more nearly as. large as himself, with twenty or thirty does to watch, the old fellow has a distressing time of it, and sometimes he gets so enraged that his defiant and threatening notes may be heard at a great distance. This note so nearly resembles that of a steam whistle, when pitched on a high key, that I have sometimes mis- taken the one for the other when half a mile away. This note is heard in the night much more than in the day time. This is 19 290 THE DEER OF AMERICA. sometimes so continuous as to disturb the rest of the keeper's family, whose house is little more than a quarter of a mile from the Elk Park. This note of rage is sometimes really appalling, and, when the animal is half a mile away, sounds as if it were right under the window. In the height of the season these revels seem to be kept up nearly the whole night, during which the rev- elers give the master no peace of his life. Why do not two or more form an alliance and attack and whip the master ? But their philosophy does not reach to that extent, and it is well or- dered that it should not, for should one attack him with vigor while he is engaged with another he would be surely killed at the first charge, and if such a system were followed up the bucks would soon be reduced to two ; so we see it is better as it is. Ex- cept during the rutting season, in my grounds at least, the Elk can hardly be considered a nocturnal animal, though in the wild state, and when surrounded by dangerous enemies, he will seek his food at night and ruminate in some secret place during the day. I never see the bucks chasing the does at speed during the rutting season, as is the constant habit with the common deer, for, after all, they seem less importunate, and so the does are not driven to shun the society of the males before their proper time arrives, which is not till some time after the bucks become very ardent. If the female Elk desires to get away from the control of the master she slips off quietly while his attention is engaged in another direction, when she generally resorts to the band of younger bucks, who seem to pay scarcely more attention to her than to each other. This continual excitement and activity reduces the flesh of the old buck so that he always commences the winter poorer than any of the others, although at the first of September he was fully up to the average in condition, as round and sleek as one could wish. During the rut, and while supreme, he is rarely seen to feed, but seems to live in a round of excitement and rage. He loses flesh pretty rapidly, looks hollow and gaunt, the fire of his eye only testifying to his continued vigor, or rather energy, for he maintains his sway for a considerable time by his un- daunted mien, after his actual strength no longer entitles him to the mastery. In this condition he is sometimes attacked by another buck nearly equal to him at the best, and is driven from the harem with contumely, and sullenly takes his place on the outside among the young bucks, when the new sovereign lords it HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 291 over him and his own late companions with whom, but the day before, he had grazed some sechided corner of the park in peace and friendship. His continued reign, howe^ver, is not always assured, for once, at least, I observed that the deposed monarch, after, recruiting for a week or ten days, had attacked and deposed the usurper, who again retired to private life with the best grace possible. The does seem to look upon these struggles with great indifference. What matter to them whether a Bourbon or a Bonaparte rules, as it is nothing but tyranny always, at least during this exciting season ? About the commencement of the rut, the male Elks have fre- quent battles to settle the question not only of sovereignty but of superiority ; nor are these settled by a single victory between the individuals. While it is rare that one is actually injured by these contests, they are sometimes fatal. I have lost two adult Elks in this way. In the fall of 1875, one was found badly gored, and appeared to have been dead several days, and in November, 1876, the monarch was found dead, exhibiting many wounds. Like the other deer, the Elk always join battle with a rush, when the shock is really terrific, and the clash of antlers may be heard for a great distance ; they then push and worry each other for a time, till one finds himself to a disadvantage in some way, when he will quickly jump to one side and course around a little way and again face his antagonist, when another rush and collision takes place ; and this may be repeated several times before one finally acknowledges defeat. In none of the battles which have been witnessed in my grounds, has either sustained injury, so that I cannot explain the incidents of those which have been ac- companied with fatal results, but probably some obstacle has in- tervened which prevented the escape of the vanquished, which has always been effected when the contests have been observed. I have never witnessed one of these meetings myself, but several have occurred in view of my men, who had received particular instructions how to obseiwe, and from them I have obtained what I believe to be full and reliable. information. The Wapiti is much better adapted to domestication than any of the other deer with which I have experimented. In the first place, they are much more healthy. Indeed, I never had a sick Elk in ray grounds to my knowledge. They are liberal feeders, no doubt, but then they are not particular about their diet. Mildness and timidity are not so ingrained with them as with the others. The men who feed them in winter go among them. 292 THE DEER OF AMERICA. and are shunned scarcely more, by either old or young, than they would be by our common cattle, that have no more constant as- sociation with man than they have. They will not submit to be driven from one park to another through the gate, for instance, or into a yard, but so soon as they perceive the object, their sus- picions seem to be aroused and they will break back and retreat to a distant part of the park. This no doubt results from want of breaking. Had we practiced driving and herding them from the beginning, I have no doubt they could have been as readily handled as our sheep or cattle. They are very easily broken, when they quietly submit. A young Elk may be caught up and put in the stable, and so soon as he appreciates tbat he cannot get away, that his efforts to escape avail him nothing, and that he is kindly treated and has nothing to fear, he submits to be handled and harnessed like a colt, though, in this experiment I have found individuals to differ much in disposition. I have found no difficulty in completely subduing the fully adult Elk, and this must be done before it is safe to put him in a cage to send away. I once had to ship a pair to friends in California, and got a number in the yard and captured and caged the buck (he was a fine specimen, weighing eleven hundred and fifty pounds with, the cage, which may have weighed three hundred pounds). We concluded, as it was getting late, to catch the doe in an easier and quicker way : so we removed a board from the side of the yard and placed the cage in front of it ; she saw the opening and dashed in and was secured in a moment. I saw she made a good deal of fuss about it, but thought she would be quiet by morning, and so she was, for I found she had broken her neck during the night, when we had to catch and subdue another, and had no further difficulty. A short explanation of how this is done, taking a large buck, for example, may be interesting. For the purpose I have a Spanish lasso, the noose of which is spread upon the ground in the yard or on the feeding grounds, when we manage to get him to step into it with a hind foot ; then three stout men on the outside spring it and draw him towards the fence, being sure at all times to keep the leg drawn out. That is all they are to do without drawing him home too fast. His efforts to escape are at first almost appalling. Directly he throws himself and perhaps will roll quite over and endeavor to spring up, and if too near the fence he must be allowed to do this, at least so far as to get further away, when another strong pull will bring him down, and then when he goes to rise again a good pull will prevent HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 293 him, and so he is allowed to struggle till he is fairly exhausted. A man then goes in and throws the noose of a long rope over an antler. The gate is now opened quickly and he is dragged out and the gate closed on the remaining Elk. So soon as this is done the man at the rope snubs it around a post or a tree, while those at the lasso pull away till he is fairly stretched out and is perfectly helpless, when all is made fast. In this condition two men will stand upon the antler which lies upon the ground, when a cord is attached to the loose hind foot, which is drawn up and tied to the opposite fore foot. The other hind foot is now drawn up by the lasso and securely tied to the other fore foot. A stout halter is now put upon the head ; first one and then the other antler is sawed off just above the burrs. He is then rolled about to see if he can be induced to make another struggle, but never struck or hurt more than is necessarily involved in this unpleas- ant operation. When he has completely submitted to his fate, the open end of the cage is brought up, the fall of the halter passed through it, the head is raised and put into the cage as far as it will go, when the feet are loosened, and as he rises the men at the halter pull him in, and by the time he is fairly on his feet he is completely within his prison. The open end is now closed, the halter tied to the cage, and the job is done. After this treat- ment I have never known one to make a struggle, though the cage be tipped and carried about as it must necessarily be in being put into a wagon or car. In short, they are fairly sub- dued, acknowledge their weakness, and resign themselves to what- ever may come. Generally in a few minutes after they are in the cage they will go to eating hay and corn as if nothing had happened. Last fall I directed a female Elk to be caught and caged. The men caught her by the hind leg, as described, and when they supposed she was well worried, one went into the yard to throw a noose over her head, when, in a great struggle, the lariat which held the hind foot broke. She made no attempt to run away, but went for the man in a way that left no mistake as to her purpose. He showed unwonted agility in dodging behind the trees, and leaping to the upper rail of the fence, arid so escaped. The most prominent instinct in the young fawn, is that of de- ception. I have several times come across fawns evidently but a few hours old, left by the mother in supposed security. They affect death to perfection, only they forget to shut their eyes. They lay without a motion, and if you pick them up, they are as 294 THE DEER OF AMERICA. limp as a wet rag, the head and limbs hanging down, without the least muscular action, the bright eye fairly sparkling all tlie time. The first I met really deceived me, for I thought it had met with some accident by which it was completely paralyzed, and returned the next day expecting to find it dead. It was gone, and soon after I found it following its dam as sprightly as possible. Last spring I found one, picked it up, and carried it some distance and laid it down, and watched for some time from a distance, but not the least sign of life would it manifest, save only in the bright eye. The Elk's fawn follows its dam much sooner than most of the other deer. At most it is left in seclusion but a day or two, when the mother takes it in immediate charge, and they mingle with the herd. " In this regard the habit of Wapiti difEers from that of the smaller deer, who keep their young secluded for several weeks. The result of my experiments shows that the confinement of this deer in parks of even considerable extent, impairs its repro- ductive powers. This result, I think, is attributable to both sexes. On the part of the female the inclination to breed seems much diminished, and this is especially so with the young ones. In the wild state they breed at two years old, while in my grounds I do not think one has ever bred till after she was four years old, and scarcely more than half of the older females may , be expected to produce young. This, however, may be attrib- uted to the male. With him the inclination to breed seems to be unimpaired, at least it is strong enough, but the limited range gives the monarch such an opportunity to indulge his propensity to appropriate all the does to himself, and there is such a constant effort required to keep them together, when the number is con- siderable, besides the continual worry occasioned by a dozen or fif- teen other large bucks, some of which, at least, intrude upon his privacy, and seem to take delight in teasing him, and provoking him to paroxysms of ungovernable rage, that his vital powers are soon impaired, and his capacity for reproduction, if not de- stroyed, is greatly reduced. This was especially manifest with the " Sultan," who reigned supreme the longest in my grounds, and now may be seen as a mounted specimen in the Royal Museum at Christiana, Norway. At first his progeny were reasonably numerous, but during the last three years of his life they gradu- ally diminished from a dozen down to a single fawn in 1875, with about twenty-five females, more than half of which had pre- HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 2i)5 viously produced fawns. It was now evident that his day of use- fuhiess was passed, and he was translated to a very respectable position under Professor Esmark, as stated above. He was suc- ceeded by a buck not more than a year younger, who lost, and then regained, his sway during the season. The result was that I had twelve fawns the next season, including one pair of twins, which are rare from the Elk in domestication. Such is the character of the evidence which induces the conclusion at which I have arrived as to the diminished reproductive powers of the Elk in semi-domestication. The disinclination of the female, especially the young, may be partly owing to the limited selec- tion of food, or want of proper aliment ; but as she keeps in per- fect health, and in fine condition, it can hardly be attributed to this entirely. After all, I think the partial restraint to which they are subjected, which is so unnatural to them, their ancestors for untold generations having had unlimited range to go when and where they pleased, and to select such associates as they pleased, is the greatest cause of the disinclination of the females to reproduce, and no doubt has its influence upon the fertility of the male. In the wild state the female is believed to breed at two, or at most three, years old, the young females producing one fawn at a birth, and the old ones generally twins, and three are sometimes produced at a birth. The fact that in my grounds the females, never, to my knowledge, have bred before four years old, and never, I think, more than two thirds of these have bred in any one year, and that twins are of very rare occurrence, certainly shows a sad degeneracy. The last summer I saw three great fel- lows sucking a large doe at one time, and she bore their rough treatment with maternal resignation ; but I suspect that one of them, at least, was a poacher on the others' preserves. Remember that all the deer tribe have four active mammse. No doubt long domestication of "Wapiti would produce such a change in the con- stitution of the race that it would so conform itself to the changed condition that its reproductive powers would be practically re- stored. I have never experimented with this deer as a beast of draught, which, after all, as a question of practical utility, is one of great importance. I have a pair of castrated fawns now in the stable, which promise good results. I have seen them a few times in harness, but always too young to work. I once bought a pair of yearling does in harness, but they were only partially broken, and were overloaded with a light buggy and man in it, and so would 296 THE DEER OF AMERICA. have been two heifers or colts of the same age. I never harnessed them afterwards. They are undoubtedly as strong as a horse of the same size, and are much more natural trotters than the horse, and with training, I think, would fully equal him in speed and endurance, and would, when fully adult, probably surpass him in both. The Elk has not the weight for heavy draught, but seems ■well adapted for light, quick work. I confess I have too long neg- lected this practical question. THE MULE DEEE, The disposition of the Mule Deer presents a study of more in- terest than that of any of the others. In some respects they are worse and in others better than either of the other species. The adult bucks when brought up by hand are wicked during the rutting season, and seem to take a positive delight in threat- ening if not in attacking their best friend, so that it is never safe to venture very near to them without a good club during the rut. The old does, too, are treacherous at all seasons, and are liable to attack children whenever they find them unprotected ; at the same time they are the greatest cowards alive. I had an old doe, almost as large as a small elk, that would even attack women if she met them alone' in the park, while she would be very complacent to a man whom she thought able to defend him- self ; still she was so great a coward that the smallest Virginia deer would drive her wherever it pleased. I have been vastly amiised in observing the little Acapulco doe chasing an adult Mule doe around the grounds. The little thing does not appear to be actuated by malice, but does it rather for amusemtent. The Mule Deer would be following me through the park, and when- ever it would happen to get a little way from me the little one would dash in between us and run it off, while the Mule Deer would make a circuit and as soon as possible run to me for pro- tection, when the little tease would stop a little way off and look as if it would enjoy a hearty laugh. This was repeated many times during a single walk. The larger one is fully three times the size of her tormentor, but I have never seen it offer the least resistance to these attacks. I have often seen her chase a Mule buck, which was two years old, in the same way. The Mule Deer is the only one I have ever seen manifest a clear and decided disposition to play. This they do something after the manner of lambs, by running courses and gamboling about and running up and down the bluffs manifestly for amuse- HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 297 ment only. I have once noticed something like this in a common deer, but at the best it was the faintest sort of a play, if indeed that was its meaning. And this pestering of the Mule Deer was the only amusement I have seen the diminutive species in- dulge in. But the Mule Deer not only amuses itself in the way described but loves to have me join him in a little sham fight, and if I handle him a little roughly, or try to throw him down when he rears up and places his feet on my shoulders, he will re- cover and jump sideways and backwards twisting himself into grotesque attitudes, though he does this in an awkward way. I have not observed this disposition to play after the animal is two or three years old, and the male seems more inclined to it than the female. I elsewhere mention that he sometimes appears to be- come very appreciative of his own importance, when he will strut around, his tail elevated to a vertical position, as is observed with the male goat. Altogether there is little to admire in the disposition of the Mule Deer beyond his taste for amusement as above described. The viciousness of the adult male during the rutting season ex- ceeds that of any of the others, in my grounds, at least, which is far from commending him as a familiar pet. This may arise from the fact that they have not the natural fear of man of the Virginia deer, for, as we shall see, when the young are raised by their dams in the park they become much more tame than the others, indeed nearly as much so as if raised by hand. The Mule Deer manifests by far the most salacious disposition of any of the deer which I have had an opportunity of closely studying. My efforts to domesticate the Mule Deer and the Columbia Deer have been practical failures. For the last eight years I have with great care and at considerable expense, experimented with both these species, and have brought many individuals from great distances, and have studied their wants and cared for them with unwearied pains, but now all are dead. The last died but a few weeks since. My failures, however, by no means assure us that they may not sustain the burden of domestication in coun- tries where they live and prosper in a wild state. Both are na- tives of the far West. The Mule Deer I brought from Utah and Nevada, distances from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles, and the Columbia Deer from Washington Territory and Oregon, say three thousand miles away. No wild Mule Deer 298 THE DEER OF AMERICA. was ever heard of within five hundred miles of here, and no wild Columbia Deer was ever seen either in or east of the Rocky- Mountains. We may well suppose that tlie change of climate and probably of aliment was too great for them. All have died of one disease, — diarrhea. I hope some one in a congenial lo- cality will make a serious effort to domesticate both these species. Of both species the first I had dropped in my grounds were twins. Those from the Mule doe lived nearly a year and a half, which gave me a good opportunity to observe the habits of the young. They grew to a fair size ; and on the male grew very large antlers for his age, both of which were bifurcated. Neither of these fawns showed the least inclination to breed the summer they were a year old. The conduct of the mother as connected with these fawns, of course interested me. She hid them in separate places, and only sought them at intervals to give them nourishment, and would never go near them, if she suspected she was watched, imitating exactly in this regard the Virginia deer. When one was found and placed in a yard with a fence four feet high, she would sometimes jump the fence and visit it, but re- fused to allow it to suck till the other was found and placed in the same yard, when she nursed them both indifferently. I could not imagine the cause of her conduct to the first till I found she had another, for which she was evidently saving all the milk. I kept them in the yard but a couple of weeks, where they were visited frequently in order to tame them, but we made little progress in that direction ; and believing they would do better at large I turned them out, when she immediately secreted them, and it was six weeks more before she allowed them to follow her, never being seen to visit them except very early in the morning, or late in the evening. I would sometimes come across one in its seclusion, when after the manner of the Virginia fawn it would crouch as low down as possible, with its chin upon the ground and great ears laid back upon its neck, and if it believed itself undiscovered would remain perfectly still, following me with its bright eyes till very near it, but as soon as it ap- preciated that it was discovered would bound away with the jumps before described, towards some ravine or thicket till out of sight, never stopping once to look back, as is frequently the case with the fawns of the Virginia deer. In the fall, however, they become much tamer than the Virginia fawns raised in the same grounds and under the same circumstance, except the two weeks' confinement before mentioned. By November they would cau- HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 299 tiously venture to take corn from my hand, a familiarity never indulged in by a Virginia deer raised by its mother. Ever after they were almost as tame as the Virginia deer raised by hand, ever ready to come to my call and take food from my hand when offered, and follow me all over the grounds, being sure of getting something to encourage them, — still they would never allow me to handle them, as their dam or sire did who were raised by hand, evidently thinking it a great condescension if they al- lowed me to rub their faces a little. How much I am indebted for this familiarity to the short confinement when they were very young, it is impossible to say, but I think not very much, for they seemed as wild immediately after they were let out as Virginia fawns of the same age, and so continued till in the fall, when they followed their mother up and began to get feed. The Virginia fawns that follow up in the same way soon learn what shelled corn is, and in the course of the winter become so emboldened as. to pick it up within ten feet of the keeper, who feeds them every day. All the deer, as well as the flock of wild turkeys, the sand-hill cranes, and the wild geese, and Southdown sheep in my grounds, soon learn what the rattling of the corn-sheller means, and it is one of the pleasantest sights I have among my pets, to see all start at this sound and make a rush for the feed- ing grounds where all eat together pretty harmoniously, the wildest of each always showing a little suspicion and keeping well on the outer borders. THE BLACK-TAILED DEEE. The male of the Columbia Black-tailed Deer is only less wicked than I have reason to believe the fully adult mule deer, when he has been raised by hand. How he would behave if raised by his dam in the park I cannot say. I have never observed any vicious manifestations by the adult does, as is the case with the mule does. The first of C. Oolumbianus which I ever had I procured on the Cowlitz River in Washington Territory, in 1870. The male was then one year old and the female two years old. They stood the journey of three thousand miles by sea and land well, and arrived in fine condition. Both had been brought up by hand, but the doe had never been subjected to the halter, and for a time gave me some trouble in transferring her from one convey- ance to anoth,er, but by the time she got through she was well halter- broken. 300 THE DEER OF AMERICA. They appeared to thrive well when turned into the parks in July, and showed no symptoms of salivation from the white clover, which was so severe upon the mule deer the year before. In the fall they were tnrned into the orchard and vineyard with a pair of mule deer, a year or two older than they were. Here they remained till early winter, when they were all returned to the parks. In the late winter the Columbia doe died, having in her two fawns sufficiently developed to show they were from the Columbia buck. For the next two years I only had the buck of this species. He continued as tame as any deer in my grounds, but always manifested a morose if not a vicious disposition. At first, the doe, being a year the oldest, tyrannized over him in a very undutiful way, but so soon as his spike antlers, nearly seven inches long, were matured, the mastery was changed and he returned her attentions in kind. While in the vineyard by them- selves neither of the four deer seemed inclined to associate with either of the others, but I always found them solitary, even dur- ing the rutting season, although both does became enciente while there by the bucks of their own species. I never saw either of these bucks make the least attempt to chase the does, which is so prominent a habit with the Virginia deer. During the next summer and after, so long as he lived, the buck ranged the parks at will, but .generally solitary. So soon as his second antlers matured he showed such signs of viciousness that I sawed them off, which reduced his threatening demonstrations, but still his conduct seemed to say that he wanted to hurt some- body. This was when he was two years old past, an age at which I have never observed a Virginia buck to show the least wicked- ness. He walked about the grounds, even while his antlers were growing, with a slow and measured step, with his ears laid back upon his neck, when there was nothing in sight to excite his ani- mosity. He would come to my call to take corn from my hand, but he approached not with gladness but slowly and with that everlasting leer, as if he would prefer to strike me rather than take the corn. I think, however, that sometimes at least this expression did him injustice, for he would frequently lay his head upon my breast in an affectionate way as if to invite ca- resses, which he seemed to enjoy. After his antlers were sawed off he would follow a pedestrian in the road, for half a mile along the fence, as if he would be glad to get at him. A month or six weeks after his antlers were taken off, he somehow escaped from the park and went up the road half a mile, when he met a man HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 301 and a boy with whom he disputed tlie right of way at once. The man broke up a fence board over his head, bat went to grass twice in the conflict and received some bruises from his fore feet, but the fence saved him from serious injury. So soon as his es- cape and this feat were reported, the keeper went for him and at ■ tempted to put a strap around his neck and lead him home, when he knocked him down, but was satisfied with tliat, and quietly submitted to be led back to the park. Indeed I think he showed as much wickedness as did the mule deer at his age ; and during the entire winter he looked and acted as if troubled with bad digestion, and consequently in an ill humor with everybody and everything. However, he eat full rations and grew fat. The next year we were again obliged to remove his antlers, but to- wards winter he began to show symptoms of disease ; though he eat his allowance well, in the latter part of winter he failed rap- idly and died in the spring. I never knew him to take any notice of a Virginia deer, ex- cept to drive it away from somie food he coveted, but he some- times condescended to play, in a very lazy way, with the young mule buck that sported his first antlers, by rubbing their heads to- gether, as if in mimic battle. He evidently thought the mule deer more worthy of his attention than the Virginia deer. This was the only manifestation of a disposition to play which I have ever observed in the Columbia Deer. The Columbia Deer are not the arrant cowards which the mule deer proved to be. I never raised a Columbia fawn. None survived more than a few days, though, as is elsewhere explained, I think this was due to accidental causes. Under more favorable circumstances, the fawns might live for a year or two, but I do not believe it practi- cable to bring them directly from their native haunts and propa- gate successfully from them here. However, we cannot tell. I have inquired for many years why the Columbia deer never comes east of the Sierras in California, or even into the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains further north. When I consider the variety of climate which he endures on the Pacific coast, and that there is no kind of food there which he could not find elsewhere, I am surprised that their range is circumscribed by an imaginary line, beyond which they cannot pass more than if the boundary were a Chinese walh 302 THE DEER OF AMERICA. THE COMMON DEEE. By nature the Virginia Deer is more timid than either of the above. When raised by hand the male forgets that man is its natural enemy, and so ceases to fear him, and then he is very apt during the rut to become wicked and dangerous. This dispo- sition, however, is not manifested till he is three or four years old ; nor is it universal, for I have had some that never be- came vicious even during the rut, though this is exceptional. But very few can be safely kept as pets after they become adult, unless one has proper facilities for confining them. Usually sawing off the antlers will so moderate their viciousness as to render them comparatively harmless, but not always. Gener- ally it may be said that the Virginia does never become vicious, though I have had one or two that would strike a child when feeding them, if one thought she did not get her share, or it was not given her as fast as suited her. When raised in the park by its' dam, the Virginia Deer never loses its fear of man so as to show the least disposition to attack him, or to come near enough to take food from his hand. Still there is a great difference among them in this regard, some venturing within a few feet to pick up corn from the ground, while others will always keep at a wary distance. They soon learn to come to the call of one who feeds them, and it is a pretty sight to see twenty or thirtj', which were quietly lying down ruminating, at the first sound of the keeper's voice all jump to their feet like a flash, dash away without a moment's pause, flags lifted high, and course among the trees and across the ravines, as if each life depended on being first. The great characteristic of the Virginia Deer is its natural wildness, which it never overcomes so as to lose its dread of man, unless taken when a few days old and fed by his hand and kept in constant and intimate association with him ; for if separated from him but for a single season, associating with the wilder deer he forgets the kindness he has received, and resumes, though to a less extent than the others, his wild timidity. If taken very young, like all the other deer of the same age, it seems to know no difference between its captor and its dam. Pick one up from its leafy bed, and carry it a few minutes, petting it tenderly, and then set it down, and it will follow you with the same confidence it would its own mother; and then if this intercourse and kind- ness be continued, it bestows its confidence upon the hand that HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 303 feeds it without stint and without restraint. If taken after a few months old, its wildness seems ineradicable. I once caught a fawn in December in the deep snow, which had become so ema- ciated that it could not escape, and placed it in a comfortable stall in the barn. So soon as it became warm, and recovered something of its vitality, it made frantic efforts to escape. It, however, soon commenced to eat, if no one was present, when it recovered its strength and spirit. It was kept in the same com- fortable quarters during the winter, and got in fine condition, but seemed absolutely untamable, though daily efforts were made by the keeper to acquire its confidence. Whenever he would go into the stall and try to pet it, it would make strong efforts to escape by jumping against the sides, and when it found that impossible, it would turn and fight him, dealing fierce blows with its little feet ; and when it was turned out in April, it seemed as wild as at the first, though it had received nothing but kindness from him during its four months of confinement. It hastened away to the flock, and was the sleekest deer of them all, and by this means it was recognized for a time, but none of them was wilder than he was so long as he could be identified. More efforts have been made to domesticate this deer than any of our other species, and generally under more favorable circum- stances than my grounds afford. Some years since I visited the plantation of General Harding, near Nashville, Tennessee, to learn the result of bis experiments. I found his parks much larger than mine and the conditions much more favorable for success. Here was a large, gently rolling lawn carpeted with a heavy coat of blue grass, and scattered through it a great number of mag- nificent old oaks, whose broad spreading branches afforded a de- lightful shade everywhere. Beyond, and separated from it by a low fence which the deer could easily scale, was an inclosure of high rolling ground densely covered with a thicket of evergreen cane and several other kinds of shrubbery, of which nearly all ruminants are very fond. The grounds were well watered. Here we find every condition requisite for the well being of the deer, with little restraint and conditions nearly approach- ing the wild state. The deer we met with in driving through the grounds were wilder than most of mine, and yet they did not seem alarmed when we approached them but trotted away so as to keep some distance off. I learned they were reasonably fertile, though not as much so as in the wild state. At the com- mencement of the late war there were about eighty deer in these 304 THE DEER OF AMERICA. grounds, but the march of great armies is not favorable to the prosperity of deer in such a place, and soon all were either driven away or killed. The General was surprised and gratified to ob- serve that after the war was over and peace and quiet once more reigned about their old home, the deer began voluntarily to return, so that in a few years the grounds were again well stocked. I thought it a fact of much interest that the deer returned volun- tarily after an absence of three or four years. I have heard of some deer parks in the upland portions of Virginia where deer were successfully entrapped as well as reared. To accomplish the former the well known habit during the rut, of the doe fleeing from the pursuit of the buck was utilized. The inclosure along a steep hillside was so prepared that the deer could easily jump into the park but could not jump out. An old doe, which had been brought up by hand and always accustomed to the place and well acquainted with this runway, was turned lobse in the surrounding forest and roamed about at will, t|ll she met with a gallant buck when the race would commence ; the ardent lover would be quickly led to the runway and into the park from which there was no escape. When I first began to gather my stock of Virginia Deer I suc- ceeded in obtaining about sixteen individuals in the course of three years, mostly females, all. but one "born in a wild state. For two or three years they were moderately prolific, rarely breeding till they were three years old, and still more rarely hav- ing twins. A few died from age, but the fawns seemed reason- ably vigorous, and my stock increased to about sixty, notwith- standing considerable losses from a swelling under the jaw. The fawns, however, came later and later each succeeding year ; the bucks showed less inclination to pursue the does, and a less proportion of the does had fawns, showing altogether a great de- crease in the vigor of the herd generally ; but this was more es- pecially manifest in the fawns, a very large proportion of which died before cold weather set in. I sometimes found two or three dead fawns in a morning's walk through the ground. A perusal of my note-book shows that at that time I absolutely began to despair of perpetuating the spepies in domestication ; one season, particularly, I did not winter more than three out of more than twenty fawns. This, however, was the culminating point of my misfortune. The most feeble ones had been evidently eliminated from the lot, while the numbers had been reduced more than one half from the highest point, though I had taken but few of the HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 305 bucks for my own table. I had observed two or three does that generally had two fawns at a birth which appeared vigorous and healthy, while the other does that survived became or always had been barren. I think I may safely express the opinion that from a few exceptional individuals that could bear domestication and who were capable of imparting similar vigor to their descend- ants, I have obtained a stock of Virginia Deer, which though not as prolific by any means as the wild deer, are still moderately so and have sufficient vigor to insure the success of my experiment, while " the descendants of ninety per cent, of those taken from the wild state will degenerate in domestication, so that in a few generations they will become extinct. This want of vigor does not show itself so much in the first stock as in the second and third generation, while but very few will reach the fourth gen- eration. I am now passing the fifth winter with what I may call vigorous fawns, none of which have died from an appar- ent want of vigor, as was the case before, so that my stock has actually increased, while I have supplied ray table abundantly with venison from the bucks. A majority of the does are still bar- ren, but this I deem fortunate, for they are not giving me en- feebled descendants to perpetuate for a time a stock which cannot bear domestication. However, a part of the barrenness of one year may probably be attributed to my attempt to force a cross ' between the Virginia does and the black-tailed buck, to effect which I kept quite a number of the does in one of the parks with that buck alone, but none of them had fawns, and my experiment was a failure. Indeed, the buck paid no more attention to the does, so far as we could observe, than did the Southdown ram in the same inclosure. Each would drive a doe from coveted food with equal rudeness. The want of vigor and reproductive powers in the deer are prob- ably due, to some extent at least, to the want of arboreous food, of which the Virginia Deer have to a large extent been deprived. However, a want of proper food is not the sole cause of the dete- rioration produced by domestication. The confinement which prevents them from roaming abroad, the want of exercise, and the absence of that constant vigilance, prompted by the instinct of self preservation to avoid enemies, no doubt, have a large in- fluence to produce the result I have observed. But we may not be able to wholly explain why it is that a considerable propor- tion of the Common Deer taken from the wild state and subjected to the influence of domestication, so deteriorate as to become 20 306 THE DEER OF AMERICA. either wholly or partially barren, and their progeny in a few generations become so enfeebled as to die out altogether. But we have seen that a few do apparently retain much of their native vigor, and reproductive powers, which they transmit in a large degree to their descendants. " Gipsy," a favorite doe now ten years old, taken in the wild state when a fawn, did, for several years at least, produce healthy vigorous twins, al- though she rarely got arboreous food, except what was broken from the trees by storms, or fell in the course of nature, — for in the North and South Parks the deer have killed off all the shrubbery, which was there originally, and while the deterioration in vigor and reproductive powers was not observable, was very abundant. I do not despair of finally producing a race of deer that will be both healthy and prolific in domestication, and that, too, when confined entirely to herbaceous food. To accomplish this, I have no doubt much weakness must be eliminated from the stock, but nature is doing that, and if but some survive the test then is the experiment a success. Could we go far enough back in history to learn of the particulars of the domestication of many of our domestic animals, which now breed and thrive well in our hands, we should probably find some such experience as I have related. However, if this be generally true of the quad- rupeds, it is scarcely so of all the feathered tribes. My experi- ments with the wild turkey show that the wild birds reared in domestication are remarkably vigorous and healthy, much more so than the common domestic turkey, while they are equally pro- lific, though in many instances both the male and female are a year later in breeding than the domestic bird. Probably, as a general rule, the reproductive powers of birds are less impaired by domestication than are those of quadrupeds. The young bucks seem to quite forget their dams after they are one year old. The habits of the wild deer are not very much modified by partial domestication, although after the rut- ting season is over they seem to be more gregarious in a wild state than in the parks ; yet solitary deer are frequently met with in the prairies and in the forests. There is no recognized monarch among the bucks, though where they meet frequently a superiority is soon settled which, for the time, is respected ; but if separated for some months a new contest is required to determine which is the better deer. The passage betjeeen the North and East Park was closed dur- ing the last summer, and there was a large buck in each of HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 307 about equal age and size. In September, after their antlers had become hard, they occasionally saw each other on opposite sides of the fence, when they would make faces at each other, with various threatening demonstrations, showing that both were ready for the fray. I directed the passage to be opened ; and when the one in the East Paris; came into the North Park he soon- met his antagonist, when a terrific battle ensued. The battle was joined by a rush together like rams, their faces bowed down nearly to a level with the ground, when the clash of horns could have been heard at a great distance ; but they did not again fall back to repeat the shock, as is usual with rams, but the battle was con- tinued by pushing, guarding, and attempting to break each other's guard, and goading whenever a chance could be got, which was very rare. It was a trial of strength and endurance, assisted by skill in fencing and activity. The contest lasted for two hours without the animals being once separated, during which they fought over perhaps half an acre of ground. Almost from the beginning, both fought with their mouths open, for they do not protrude the tongue prominently, like the ox, when breathing through the mouth. So evenly matched were they that both were nearly exhausted, when one at last suddenly turned tail to and fled ; his adversary pursued him but a little way. I could not detect a scratch upon either sufficient to scrape off the hair, and the only punishment suffered was fatigue and a conscious- ness of defeat by the vanquished. I may remark that the victor was the intruder from the East Park, where he had lived with perhaps a dozen companions, almost as wild as in a state of na- ture, for it is mostly appropriated to the elk, where visitors are not allowed. There they can be as secluded as they please. It contains sixty-five acres, is broken with several broad ravines, and is covered with a young forest with many dense thickets of shrubs, and is a real paradise for the Virginia Deer whose timid- ity prompts him to seek seclusion. The pursuit of 'the doe by the buck commences before her season has arrived, and hence for two or three weeks she remains as secluded as possible. He follows her track with his nose to the ground, and when started from her bed the race is very spirited ; but she manages to elude the pursuit by mingling with the other deer and again slipping away. No attempt is made by a buck to herd the does, as is the custom of the elk, and but few of these deer are found associating together during the rut- ting season ; but after it is passed they assemble in larger herds than at any other season. 308 THE BEER OF AMERICA. The fawns are weaned by the time they are four months old, but they follow the dam, — the males for one year, and the fe- males for two years. After the fawns are weaned, the does im- prove very rapidly in flesh. Indeed it is astonishing to see how rapidly a buck or a doe will improve so soon as the acorns begin to fall. Ten days are sufficient to change a poor deer to a fat one, at the time when the summer coat is discarded and the glossy winter dress appears. THE ACAPULCO DEEE.^ While I cannot charge the Acapulco Deer with having a wicked disposition, it certainly has more courage and combativeness than any of our other deer, and corresponds in these respects with the Ceylon deer. This is apparent from what has been already in- cidentally mentioned in several places in this work. They do not hesitate to attack deer of the other species three times their size and strength, and beat them by mere force of courage and will. I shall not now repeat examples to illustrate this. They seem to be hardy in domestication, but whether they would continue so and would be prolific through succeeding gen- erations, are questions yet to be proved. So far both they and the Ceylon deer have proved hardy an9 prolific, but so it was with the Virginia deer at first, and it was not till the third or fourth generation, that the great want of vigor and reproductive ^ While this work is going through the press, I find in the Museum of Compara- tive Zoology of Harvard College a mounted specimen of this Acapulco Deer marked " Cervus il/earicanus " and referring to " Hassler Expedition," and giving Acapulco as its location. Cenius i/cxicantis of the naturalists is much larger than this deer, and has all the indicia of C Virginianus, only it is smaller than the same species far- ther north. I have found the best representatives of C. Mexicanus in the gardens of the London Zoological Society. Without again going into the detail of the indicia observed, I may say that the metatarsal gland is present on C. Mexicanus, and is in all respects case marked precisely as on the common deer; while this gland is entirely wanting on C. Acapulcensis, and so it is on the mounted specimen referred to. It is not remarkable that one who has not made a special study of the deer, should con- found the two, and so give the smaller and more southern species the name of the other, actually believing them to be identical. Had not the name Cerous Mexicanus been long appropriated to a variety of the Virginia deer, I should have selected it for the name of this small species, which, so far as I know, I have for the first- time ac- curately described, but to have given it that most appropriate name would have ever •confounded it with the variety of the common deer to which the name has been so long attached. Hence I was compelled to give it another name in order to preserve the proper distinction. If travelers, and even naturalists, have hitherto supposed these two species of small Mexican deer to be identical, I trust hereafter they will have no trouble in distinguishing and identifying a specimen of either whenever met with. HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 309 powers were so fatally manifest. The second generation of the Ceylon deer are good breeders, but I think are not as hardy as the first. At least I have lost two the past summer, one in yeaning, and the other when I was absent, and from an unknown cause. The fact that they never saw snow till they came into my grounds, when they were fully adult, and have borne three win- ters, the two first very severe, without injury, except the loss of small portions of the ears, would indicate that they have hardy constitutions, naturally ; but that two of the second generation of the Ceylon deer have had the swelling under the head indicates a tendency to weakness ; but the fact again, that both recovered without treatment, while the disease, if left to take its course, has always proved fatal to the common deer, encourages the be- lief that they possess a large amount of vitality. Certain it is that they have been much more healthy in domestication than either the mule deer or the Columbia deer, although much further removed from their native habitat, and from the torrid zone to a rigorous climate, where they have endured a temperature at times forty or fifty degrees below the freezing point of water, while the home of the latter is at least as cold as it is here. It is safe to say then, that they are capable of enduring greater changes in the conditions of life than the larger species, which are sure to die in a few years, upon being brought from the Pacific coast, or even the Rocky Mountains, to the east of the Mississippi River. HYBRIDITY OF THE CERVID^. As has been already several times intimated, nature seems to have established a law of sexual aversion not only among the genera, but even among the species of animals and plants, which is more or less intense as the dividing line which separates the species is more or less pronounced. This aversion is more potent with the female than the male, and is more commanding in the wild state than when they are brought together in confinement, and partial or complete domestication. This aversion is sufficient to prevent the commingling of blood of species very nearly allied when unrestrained in the wild state, though inhabiting abundantly the same wild range, and perhaps this law of sexual aversion may furnish as safe a rule as any to distinguish species from varieties. Varieties are never constant and distinguishable in the same district of country, for the simple reason that there is no sexual restraint, which absolutely prevents the maintenance of hereditary distinctions which distinguish varieties, and so would it happen among species, were there no natural restraint to keep them asunder. When such restraint exists which amounts to practical prohibition, nature itself declares a purpose to maintain a specific distinction. If we recognize the law of evolution, then the lines of separa- ration of divergent families from an original stock, have become so widely separated as to interpose this law of sexual aversion between them, and we shall be sure to find permanent physical characteristics dependent not upon factitious circumstances, but solely on hereditary influences, which, uniting with the law of sexual aversion, satisfactorily declares distinct species, where, a long time before, when the lines of divergence were less sep- arated, they were but varieties, with scarcely impaired sexual inclinations for each other. We may admit that sexual intercourse sometimes occurs be- tween individuals of different species in the wild state, just as we see unnatural impulses manifested sometimes in both man and brute, but they are so exceedingly rare as to be entitled to no influence in the general discussion, and we may if you choose agree with those who contend that when such intercourse does HYBRIDITY OF THE CERVID^. 311 take place it is more apt to be fertile, than when the individuals are in confinement or semi-domestication. Indeed we should an- ticipate such a result, for as I show elsewhere, nearly all wild animals are less fertile in confinement than in the wild state, and this arises not so much because of less inclination to sexual inter- course, but because such intercourse when it does occur is less fruitful. But it is not my purpose to go far back of the present and grope my way in intricate paths which at best must be but im- perfectly lighted up, and discuss subjects not embraced in my present inquiry, and which I am less qualified to examine than others who can bring to their elucidation a much broader inquiry and much more abundant facts than are at my command. My ambition rather is to bring new facts arising within the limited sphere of my observations, which will serve as a single brick to be placed by other and more competent hands in the great struc- ture of ultimiate truth, the construction of which is already com- menced in the world of science. He who shall furnish the most accurately observed facts, will provide the most acceptable mate- rial for the hands of the architect, and an exhaustive inquiry as to facts even within a very narrow sphere will have only done that which must be done in reference to all other subjects before the skillful generalizer will be provided with the necessary material for his great work. A very common error has prevailed, even to some extent in scientific quarters, that hybrids, or the issue of parents of different species, are necessarily unfertile ; in other words, if a supposed hybrid is capable of propagation it is conclusive evidence that the parents were of the same species. The fact that hybrids are less likely to be productive or are less fertile than the progeny of parents of the same species is undoubtedly true, and a fertile offspring goes a very long way to prove that the parents were of the same species ; but there are many well authenticated cases of fertile hybrids. The most common and familiar hybrid is the cross between the ass and the mare, which as a general rule is incapable of propaga- tion, either among themselves or with either parent, and this no doubt has had a large influence in creating the general belief re- ferred to ; still there are many cases where the mule has bred from the horse ; and Dr. Morton says that this is very common in Spain. In his essay on hybridity, published in the " American Journal of Arts and Sciences," 1847, page 212, Dr. Morton has 312 THE DEER OF AMERICA. collected together many facts on this subject, tending to show the fertility of many hybrids produced from very distinct species, and some from distinct genera. Although many of the cases cited are of doubtful authority and may have been pressed into the service to support a favorite theory, enough is left to con- vince us that hybrids from some distinct species are uniformly fertile and in others they are exceptionally fertile. At any rate ■we may consider it too well settled to admit of successful con- troversy that fertility of offspring is not conclusive evidence that the parents were of the same species, although in the investiga- tion of that question it should by no means be overlooked. Indeed it is not improbable that some of our well established species, of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and plants, may have had their origin in hybrid ancestors, although, as a general rule, we may expect that they would gradually revert to one or the other of the original parents. A hundred years ago Count de Buffon" examined this, subject with great industry, and collected many facts tending to throw light upon it ; and I can do no better than to quote his conclusions as recorded in Smellie's translation, London edition of 1812, vol. iv., p. 29. He says : " However this matter stands, it is certain from what is above remarked, that mules in general which have uniformly been accused of sterility are neither really or univer- sally barren ; and that this sterility is particularly apparent only in the mule which proceeds from the ass and horse, for the mule produced by the he-goat and the ewe is equally fertile as its par- ents ; and most of the mules produced by different species of birds are not barren. It is therefore in the particular nature of the horse and ass that we must search for the cause of the ster- ility of the mules which proceed from their union ; and instead of supposing barrenness to be a general and necessary defect common to all mules it should be limited to the mule produced by the ass and horse ; and even this limitation ought to be re- stricted, as these same mules in certain circumstances become fertile, particularly when brought a degree nearer their original species." I have for many years sought to produce hybrids from the va- rious species of deer in my grounds, but have succeeded in but four cases. The first of these was a cross between a male Columbia deer and a female mule deer, the second was between the Ceylon buck and the doe from Acapulco. The third was between a Virginia buck and a Ceylon doe, and the fourth was HYBRIDITY OF THE CERVIDJE. 313 between the Virginia buck and the Acapulco doe. In the first case the male was three years old, in full health and vigor, and the female was two years old, in fine condition. During that sea- son there was no buck of her own species about the place old enough for service. She did not receive the Columbia buck, with which she had been long acquainted, till six weeks after the usual season. Before the fawn was dropped she had become sickly and both the mother and offspring died within four months after. I had previously kept the same male with an older female mule deer confined together in a small inclosure for some months during the proper season, but she refused all his advances persistently, nor did he manifest much ardor in the pursuit. The year before I had kept this same female mule deer with a male of the same species, and a female Columbia deer with this same male of that species in the vineyard, and each doe produced a pair of fawns true to their species, although the male of C. ma- crotis was older and stronger than that of C. Oolumbianus, and always manifested a hostile disposition towards him, so that it was clearly the choice of the female which determined the pater- nity. In the second case, both male and female were in fine condi- tion ; had been brought from California in the same cage, and for a time at least after their arrival associated much together ; and I had no male deer of the same species with the female, and still they passed by the ordinary season without coupling, and the union only took place six months later, and the offspring when produced was still-born, or at least was dead when found. The next fall the Ceylon buck met with an accident and died before the rut. In his absence the Ceylon does associated, prob- ably reluctantly, with a Virginia buck, from which the oldest produced two hybrids, and the youngest one. These were born after the usual season, but have always been healthy and vigor- ous, and partake largely of the qualities of the sire. They are nearly as large as the Virginia fawns of the same age, and the tuft of hair over the metatarsal gland is so conspicuous that it may be seen nearly as far as on the Virginia deer, while on their mothers it can only be seen on very close inspection. All the Ceylon does have freely bred to the Virginia buck ever since. The Acapulco doe which had reluctantly bred to the Ceylon buck six months after the usual time, after his death refused the advances of the Virginia buck for the first season, but finally submitted, and produced two fine hybrids, which, by November, 314 THE DEER OF AMERICA. were nearly as large as the mother. On these, the tuft of hair over the metatarsal gland is plainly seen, while, as I have stated, the hybrids from the Ceylon buck, on which this gland is ex- ceedingly small, showed no vestige of the gland, the absence of which they inherited from the mother. The hybrids from the Virginia buck, on which the gland is conspicuous, inherited it from the sire. The readiness with which the Ceylon does bred to the Vir- ginia bucks would point to the conclusion that they are specifi- cally more nearly allied than are the Ceylon and the Acapulco deer, although in the former case one is more than twice as large as the other ; besides, they differ very much in form, color, and habit, for the Virginia deer are very gregarious, while the Ceylon deer are quite solitary in their habits, never associating together, except the doe with her fawns. In the other case, where I found so much reluctance to inter-breeding, there is very little differ- ence in size, and scarcely an appreciable difference in form, and in color they are very much alike ; and, as I have in another place stated, no one would suspect a difference of species, were it not for the presence of the gland in the one and its absence in the other, to which must be added the sexual aversion already noted. None of these hybrids have as yet bred, though I shall be disappointed if they do not prove reasonably fertile. In every instance where I have succeeded in procuring hybrids the females have not had access to males of their own species. Wherever there has been such opportunity, they have always bred true to the species. Now that I have procured an Acapulco buck, it will be interesting to know whether the female of that species will forsake her unnatural associations with the Virginia buck. During the summer, these Acapulco deer seemed to take no notice of each other, but in September I generally found them in the vicinity of each other ; but the doe, which was fully one third larger than the young buck, showed herself a vicious ter- magant, and chased him about fearfully, especially if she saw me feeding him. By November he began to resent this, and would turn upon her and exchange a few passes, and by the first of December he succeeded in conquering her, and now seems to lead a more peaceable domestic life. I never saw him appear to pay the least attention to any other doe in the park, though I was very anxious to see him with the Ceylon does. Still I have my apprehensions that both the Ceylon and Acapulco does will again breed to the common bucks, for my observations have convinced HYBRIDITY OF THE CERVIDJE.. 315 me that when a female has once bred to a male of another species she becomes debauched and so demoralized that she is inclined to receive anything that comes along, no matter how repulsive he may have been at first. Had not this Acapulco doe first allowed herself to be seduced by the Ceylon buck, which so much resembled her in size, form, and color, and with whom she was so well acquainted, I very much doubt whether she would ever have received the attentions of the Virginia buck, nearly three times her size, and differing from her in so many important par- ticulars. But once having submitted to the Ceylon buck, she coquetted a while with the larger species, and finally submitted. Still I hope she has virtue enough left to return to her own species, now that she has an opportunity. While it is undoubtedly true that the sexes of the same species will, as a general rule, associate together when they can, and manifest no inclination to interbreed with a nearly allied species, yet we sometimes see unnatural attachments between opposite sexes of different genera even, in domestication at least, which seem to overcome the natural repugnance which ordinarily pre- vails. A remarkable instance of this once occurred in my grounds. When I had but one male elk, with several females, a strong at- tachment grew up between the buck and a two-year old Durham heifer, so that he abandoned the society of the female elk, as the heifer did that of the cows in the same inclosure with which she had been reared, and they devoted themselves exclusively to each other. When they laid down in the shade to ruminate, they were always found close together, and when one got up to feed, the other would immediately follow. They kept away by them- selves, always avoiding the society of all the other animals. Whenever the heifer was in season, which occurred quite regu- larly every month, she accepted the embraces of the elk, without showing an inclination to seek the other cattle ; nor did this seem to be the result of any constraint. This intercourse continued throughout the summer, during the entire growth of the antlers of the elk, but unfortunately he was killed before the rut com- menced with the female elk. It is hardly necessary to state that no impregnation ever occurred from her intercourse with the elk, and so far as this instance may go to establish it, we may con- clude that the constitutional differences of the elk and the cow are so great that they cannot successfully interbreed. Probably no intelligent naturalist of the present day would 316 • THE DEER OF AMERICA. give the least credence to the stories of the ancients of a hybrid from the bull and the mare, which the French called jumar. Although they are less unlike each other than the wolf and the sheep, still the boundary between them is far too broad to render interbreeding in the remotest degree probable. Still less dissim- ilar are the Cervidse and the Bos, for their digestive and genera- tive organs are on the same general plan, but in other respects they are so very dissimilar in their organization and economy, that we should require the most conclusive proof before we could believe that their union could ever prove fertile. The most con- spicuous, or at least obvious distinction is, that one has a hollow, permanent horn, while that of the other is solid and temporary. A much closer alliance, or at least similitude, is found between the goat, the sheep, and the antelope, and yet all naturalists have agreed in placing them in separate genera ; but for all this, I know not how to reject the evidence that the sheep and the goat have sometimes propagated together, and that their hybrid off- spring have proved permanently fertile. How much more read- ily, then, may we admit the interbreeding of closely allied species — as all the deer certainly are, — and that their hybrids should sometimes bo capable of reproduction, although the repugnance is so great that when unconstrained they do not approach each other. The wapiti deer is so much larger than any of the other species in my grounds, that I have never conceived the possibility of hybridizing them ; and indeed the moose is the only member of the family on this continent, with which we might expect no great difficulty in an attempt to breed them together, although the size of the woodland caribou is not so inferior as to render the attempt absolutely unpromising. The red deer of Europe (C. elaphus), resembles most our elk or wapiti deer, and I state my reasons in another place, for con- sidering them if not absolutely identical in species, at least very nearly allied, and that probably they have descended from the same ancestors. I have been so much interested with the fol- lowing account of hybridizing the wapiti and the red deer, — if that be the true term, — from " Land and Water," that I cannot do better than to copy it : — " The Prince Pless, who has large possessions in Silesia, has suc- ceeded, after repeated trials, in obtaining a cross between the Wapiti (Gervus Canadensis), and the common red deer. " In 1862 the Prince bought fourteen Wapitis from Count Arco, a Ba- varian gentleman, who had reared these from four brought from Canada HYBRIDITY OF THE CERVIDJE. 317 six years previously. They had thriven and bred well in the bleak mountain climate of the Berchtesgaden. " Out of the fourteen, seven were hinds far gone with calf. The keeper who had charge of them entered at the time of the purchase into the service of the Prince. It took three days to transport the animals by rail to Pless, where they were provided on their arrival with accommo- dation similar in every respect to tha,t which they had enjoyed in Berch- tesgaden. At the end of a week two died, and a few days later seven more, after an illness of some hours. Three more were attacked, but saved by the use of proper remedies. The disease was a distemper brought on by feeding on the sour-forest grass, and is called in German ' Anthraxkrankheit,' of which there are different phrases, Milzbrand, Lungenbrand, Karbuncles Euche. " The survivors were removed to higher and healthier ground. An- other fell a victim to the distemper, and four now remained, which mul- tiplied rapidly. Every hind dropped her calf regularly. The deer were unaffected by cold ; for in a temperature of fifteen degrees to twen- ty-three degrees below zero (Eeaumur), they lay out in an exposed windy spot. Still the distemper renewed its attacks every year, and sometimes with deadly result, so that the stock fluctuated in numbers be- tween two and fourteen. " The breeding of the pure Wapiti appearing to be a failure, it was decided to try a cross with the native red deer, although zoologists had pronounced this to be an impossibility, or at least had predicted that the oflfspring would be sterile. " Fifteen hinds of the common red deer breed were taken and en- closed in the neighborhood of the Wapitis ; and in the rutting season a three-year old Wapiti stag was admitted to them. A two-year old Wapiti stag got five calves. Half-breed hinds, when three years old, bore calves, and thus the fecundity of the hybrids was a, fait accompli in spite of the zoologists. As the supply of two-year old Wapiti stags failed they were replaced by yearlings, which, however, invariably died. The two-year old stags of half breed were enclosed and separated from the hinds. A two-year old Wapiti stag admitted to the half bred hinds was replaced by one of mixed breed. The produce of the hinds proved that the cross of the Wapiti stag with half breeds was a success. "Early in 1868 all the pure Wapitis except one had died, and there remained twenty-eight head of half breeds, of which three or four had been twice and some once, crossed with pure Wapiti. The breeding with the half blooded stock is to be continued, and they are to be let into the open forest when the present space becomes too small. " The half breed deer is of colossal size, little inferior to a Wapiti in bulk and antlers. Its roar is less sonorous than that of the red deer. A four-year old half breed, twice crossed, carries large antlers with four- teen points. In general appearance it resembles the red deer but is larger.'' 318 THE DEER OF AMERICA. Let me again repeat that I am strongly inclined to l,he opin- ion, however, that this is not a real case of hybridity, but that the European stag and our wapiti should be ranked as specifically the same, having descended originally from the same progenitors, though for a long time they have been separated by impassable physical barriers, and so have descended in separate lines, during which permanent changes have taken place in each, many of them divei'ging, or opposite, while in other and more permanent char- acteristics, no change has taken place. But this question I con- sider elsewhere. I regret that similar experiments have not to my knowledge been tried with our moose and the European elk, and our caribou and the Lapland reindeer. I doubt not that they would breed freely together, with a fertile progeny. ALIMENT. So much has been said in other places, of the food upon which the various species of our deer subsist, that we need devote but little space to this branch of our subject now. All the Cervidse are strictly vegetarians ; generally, they con- sume more arboreous food than most other ruminants, but none depend upon it exclusively. The Moose alone habitually eats the leaves and twigs of the conifers. In the winter, particu- larly, they subsist largely upon these, and, indeed, they take them at all seasons when met with. Mr. Morrill says, that this is so much the case that their droppings emit a very pungent odor, derived from their evergreen food, which, like musk, is very agreeable to some people, while to others it is very offensive. They consume largely, also, the leaves, twigs, and bark of the deciduous trees, to obtain which they bend down large saplings ; and in their winter yards they denude the large trees of their bark as high up as they can reach. To do this they place the extremity of the upper jaw, which is furnished with a sort of pad, against the tree, and scrape upwards with their powerful incisors, tearing off the thick, rough bark with astonishing force and facility. But they partake of herbaceous food as well, though they cannot conveniently graze like other ruminants, but they can crop the ends of long grass, which is often found in the marshy grounds which they frequent in the summer tim-e. At this season, also, they depend largely on aquatic vegetation, found in lakes and rivers. The long grasses and lily pads, which grow along the borders of the lakes, are favorite articles of food for the Moose, which they readily reach by wading into the water ; and after the appetite is satisfied they submerge themselves all but a part of the head in the deeper water to escape the flies and mosquitoes. The Wapiti Deer selects his food from the trees and shrubs, the grasses and the weeds, though he is not so fond of the latter as some of the others. Like several of the other species he pre- fers the bitter and the astringent, like the hickory and the oak, to the hazel and the maple. He may be often seen standing erect on his hind feet, stretching his neck to the utmost to get a bunch of leaves nearly beyond his reach. In the winter, he 320 THE DEER OF AMERICA. frequently pulls down the twigs bearing the dry oak leaves, and eats them with apparent relish, though he is rarely seen to pick up those which have fallen after maturity. If deprived of ar- boreous food he will keep healthy and fat on grass alone. In winter he will scrape away deep snow with his feet to obtain the grass beneath it, and by some unexplained means seems always to select the best places. I feed my herd of Elk in winter almost exclusively on corn (maize) stalks, and they will keep fat upon them if only they get enough, though they be compelled to eat all the stalks not larger than one's finger. They are promiscuous consumers, though great feeders, requiring as much to keep them as the same number of our black cattle ; but they will eat greedily damaged hay, which the cattle or horses would reject. After we commence feeding them in winter they stop foraging for themselves, until their rations are stopped, and they are forced to it by two or three days' fasting. They make no attempt in the winter to strip the bark from even the wild apple or the poplar, although they do this sometimes, though rarely, in summer. In a very few years they killed out all the shrubbery in their park, and keep the trees thoroughly trimmed as far as they can reach. I am not aware that they ever eat the leaves or twigs of evergreens, nor have I ever known them to eat the parasitic lichens which fre- quently grow iipon the trees, or the mosses found on decaying logs. They are very fond of all sorts of grain, and it is astonish- ing to see what an enormous ear of maize they will take and crunch up at once. Even the cob, after the corn has all been removed, I have never known them to reject. They soon learn to come to the call of one who feeds them, in the latter part of the season, but in the summer, when the grass is sweet and ten- der, they are more indifferent, and may refuse to answer. Both species of Caribou live largely upon a variety of lichens found in their respective ranges, and indeed these seem indis- pensable to their well-being. At least it is so with the European reindeer, for wherever they are kept in gardens or menageries the mosses from their native ranges have to be imported for them. This, however, is not their only food. They, too, feed upon the trees and shrubbery, and upon the grasses, wherever they find them. The experienced hunter follows them through the bush with great facility by noticing where they have cropped the twigs or stripped the moss from the trees in passing, and by careful inspection will judge something of their number,^ and ALIMENT. 321 how recently they have passed. This cropping is done by the animal without stopping to feed, but as it walks along. They take the various kinds of grasses found in their range freely, though I lack the evidence to show that they are as fond of aquatic vegetation as is the moose. After all, their great re- source is the reindeer moss, which, in many places, burdens the ground to great depths, sometimes even two or three feet, where scarcely any other vegetation can survive. >^ Of the Woodland Caribou, Captain Hardy says : " The 1 Caribou feeds principally on the Gladonia rangiferina, with which barrens and all permanent clearings in the fir forests are thickly carpeted, and which appears to grow more luxuriantly in the sub-arctic regions than in more temperate latitudes. Mr. Hind, in ' Explorations in Labrador,' describes the beauty and luxuriance of this moss in the Laurentian country, ' with ad- miration for which,' he says, ' the traveler is inspired, as well as for its wonderful adaptation to the climate, and its value as a source of food to the mainstay of the Indian, and consequently of the fur trade in these regions, — the Caribou.^ The recently announced discovery by a French chemist, who has succeeded in extracting alcohol in large quantities from lichens, and especially from the reindeer moss (identical in Europe with that of Amer- ica), is interesting, and readily suggests the value of this prim- itive vegetation, in supporting animal life in that boreal climate, as a heat-producing food. Besides the above, which appears to be its staple food, the Caribou partakes of the tripe de roche (^Sticta pulmonaria'), and other parasitic lichens growing on the bark of trees, and is exceedingly fond of the Usnea which grows on the boughs (especially affecting the tops) of the black spruce, in long pendent hanks. In the forests on the Cumberland Hills, in Nova Scotia, I have observed the snow quite trodden down during the night by the Caribou, which had resorted to feed on the ' old men's beards ' in the tops of the spruces, felled by the lumberers on the day previous. In the same locality, I have observed such frequent scratchings in the first light snows of the season at the foot of the trees in beech groves, that I am convinced that the animal, like the bear, is partial to the rich food afforded by the moss. I am not aware that the favorite item of the diet of the Norwegian reindeer (^Ranunculus glacialis) is found in America, and the Woodland Caribou has no chance of exhibiting the 1 Mr. Hind describes the reindeer moss as covering the broken, roclcy surface to a great depth, and which, when burned off, they found almost impassable on foot. 21 322 THE DEER OF AMERICA. strange but well authenticated taste of the former animal by devouring the lemming ; ^ otherwise the habits of the two vari- eties are perfectly similar as regards food." Speaking of the Barren-ground Caribou, Sir John Richardson says : " The lichens on which the Caribou feed whilst on the barren grounds are the Oornicularia tristis, divergens, and ocJiri- leuca, the Getraria nivalis, cucullata, and Islandica, and the Cononyce rangiferina." In the southern part of their range, to which they retire in the winter season, these deer find forests bordering the barren grounds, and no doubt here they partake more or less of ar- boreous food. Of the four other species of deer it may be said in general that they all affect the same kinds of food. The leaves and twigs of trees and shrubs, all the finer kinds of grasses, at least a great variety of weeds, especially the bitter sorts, the seeds of grasses, the fruits of trees, as the wild apples, and plums, and cherries, acorns, and all sorts of berries and rose apples, and all sorts of grain and seeds to which they have access, are freely taken by them. The Virginia Deer alone seems capable of masticating the hickory nut, and it is with difl&culty that the Mule Deer and the Acapulco Deer can masticate the well dried grains of the maize, but they soon learn to swallow them whole, and after they have been well softened in the stomach they are ruminated with great apparent satisfaction. In my grounds, they will only eat the blades and heads of the coarser hay, like timothy and clover, and I find it best to provide a good supply of fine rowen hay for their use, or better yet, a fodder consisting mostly of weeds, no matter how large and coarse, well cured. This they will pick over with great satisfac- tion. A good coat of blue grass under the snow is the best pro- vision for a winter supply for them. This they reach with great facility by scraping away the snow ; but with all this, no matter how abundant, they do not consider themselves well used without a ration of corn every day in the winter. I have never seen any of the deer ruminating, except when lying down. All are fond of salt, and they should have that condiment always accessible, and even then the want of an abundance of arboreous food seems to impair their health and vigor. ^ I frequently meet with the statement, even in respectable works on natural his- tory, that the Lapland reindeer are in the habit of devouring the lemming, but I do not remember to have met the statement by any one that he has actually seen it done, so that I do not really know how authentic the statement is. CONGENERS. Otje study of the American Deer would be quite incomplete, were we to omit a comparison of them with European species and see whether we there find their analogies. I have pursued this inquiry with some industry, and find nothing there, bearing such a similitude to our mule deer, our black-tailed deer, our Virginia deer, or our Acapulco deer, as to suggest a common origin, at least in modern times, even in a geological sense. In the form of the antlers there is nothing which suggests a near relationship, although all are composed of the same material, and are grown in the same way, and all are more or less branched, characteristics which distinguish the Cervida from all other rumi- nants. In other parts of the world we find many species of deer with important peculiarities, which are entirely wanting in all our species. We have others, however, which are so nearly like European species that Ave feel constrained to declare that there is no specific difference between them. THE MOOSE AND THE ELK. The first of these which demand our attention are the Ameri- can Moose and the European Elk. These are not alike abso- lutely, nor are the individuals composing the distinct varieties in each country ; but the distinctions, whatever they are, must be determined by the average of large numbers in each country, when, we may fairly conclude, they arise from the different con- ditions in which they have lived, during the many ages they have been separated by impassable physical barriers. I present an illustration of the Scandinavian Elk, and the reader can read- ily compare with him the Moose at page 68. The American Moose is larger in size and darker in color than the European Elk. These distinctions have been recognized ever since the American variety was first discovered by those familiar with the other variety. This is only ascertained by observing a large number, for individuals may be found which, if considered by themselves, would contradict the conclusion. There is, no 324 THE DEER OF AMERICA. doubt, more variation in color as well as in size observed among our Moose than among the Eastern Elk. Some attain to enor- mous size, larger than any individuals found in the north of Europe, and some are black to a degree never met with among the others, while other smaller and lighter specimens are met with here not essentially differing from the average of those found in Europe. Scandinavian Elk. There is, too, an observable difference in the antlers, although in both the general characteristics are the same. The antlers are not much smaller on the Elk than on the Moose, in proportion to the size of the animal, but they are less palmated, that is, a less proportion of the volume of the antler is spread out in the palm, and a greater proportion devoted to the cylindrical parts. Besides the palms being less, relatively, the tines, set upon their borders, are larger and longer than on our variety. While this is true as a general rule, it is by no means universally so. I have CONGENERS. 325 seen specimens of the Moose antlers, where the tines upon the palms were quite as stout and as long as on any from the Euro- pean variety, and the examiner would be inclined to assign to them an eastern origin, though the large size might make him hesitate, while I met with no specimens in the east where it would be little exaggeration to say that the whole antler was one great palm, as in the Halifax specimen shown in the illustration (^ante, p. 193). I think all careful observers who have examined large numbers of both varieties, will agree with me that the antlers of the Moose are, as a general rule, more palmated, and have less conspicuous tines than those of the Swedish Elk. While I have selected those for illustration, which I believed would give a fair idea of the average form of the Elk's antlers, I met with none of those extreme cases sometimes met with here, and none showing larger relative palms and less tines than some of these illustrated (see ante, pp. 195, 199). I may say the same of the illustrations of the American variety, though the specimen from the Halifax museum should, undoubtedly, be considered as bor- dering on the extreme. The difference, then, consists in the size and color of the an- imals, and in the form of the antler, though in the latter the same genei-al characteristics prevail in both. While these dif- ferences occur in a majority of cases, they are by no means uni- versal, nor are entire similitudes in these regards extremely rare, or even uncommon. Some comparative anatomists or osteologists have supposed they could discover a difference in the forms of the crania, which others could not see. While the form of the skull in each of the species of this genus is very constant, and so of great value in this investigation, a slight, and at most a doubtful, difference cannot be allowed a controlling influence. For myself I have been unable to find the supposed difference, and am by no means prepared to admit its actual existence. The most that has been claimed is, that one is a little broader than the other, which, however, I repeat, is not an accepted fact. Were the difference really appreciable, it would be universally recognized, for it is open to the inspection of all. In all other respects these animals are precisely alike, at least I can detect no other differences, and I know of no one who has pretended to do so. I will refer to a few of the similitudes, some of which are peculiar to this animal. 326 THE DEER OF AMERICA. They occupy the northern portions of both continents, being only exceeded in their northern range by the reindeer. They must live in a wooded country. They affect the same kinds of food, and are the only deer which we find habitually browsing upon conifers. The whole form of the animal presents many peculiar characteristics, entirely wanting in all other animals ; among which I cannot overlook, that peculiar tuft of black hair on the inside of the hock, which is exactly alike on every indi- vidual of both varieties, so far as it has been possible to examine, while never a gland or tuft of hair is found on the outside of the hind leg, although this is exceptional in the genus. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of all is, both are monog- amous in their habits, with strange peculiarities, which are par- ticularly described on p. 278, et seq., where I also show that with the exception of one other species of deer (C. capreolus'), found in Europe, and some of the monkey tribe, so far as I recol- lect, I have never seen this habit ascribed to any other quadruped. At any rate it is exceedingly rare, and so has the more value in the catalogue of similitudes when comparing these animals. How strikingly in every detail this peculiar habit is practiced by the Elk in Europe as it is by the Moose in America, is there shown. One could write a book almost, without exhausting the similitudes between these animals, many of which are peculiar to them, while their few and slight differences are specified in a few words, every one of which may be found in individuals on either continent. THE CARIBOU AND THE EEINDEEE. That the Reindeer and our Woodland Caribou are specifically identical, I think equally clear. The divergence which has resulted from long separation under somewhat -different condi- tions of life is even less, if possible, than that which has occurred with the two varieties of Alces. Their differences are easily enu- merated. The first to be noticed with them is in the antlers. The gen- eral configuration is the same in both. With a long and slender beam, first retreating and spreading, and then curving forward and inward, they present fundamental peculiarities observed in none others of the genus, except that which is closely allied to them, to say the least, namely, the Barren-ground Caribou. Both have brow-tines exceedingly variant on individuals, and even in different antlers on the same animal, with the universal charac- CONGENERS. 327 teristic, however, that they spring from the beam in front just above the burr in a descending direction nearly in the facial line one or both of which usually extend nearly the length of the face and is palmated at the end, presenting numerous snags curving inward. Above, the antler is more or less palmated. The ant- lers on both Varieties are of about the same magnitude propor- tioned to the size of the animal. As with the moose and the ells, the difference in these consists principally in the extent of the palmatation. This feature is even more marked in Tarandus than in Aloes. They are also less branched in the European variety than in the American. These differences will be better understood by an examination of the illustrations than they could be by verbal descriptions. Those copied from Captain Hardy's " Forest Life in Acadie," ^ present nearly the extreme of palmatation in the American variety, and for that very reason are valuable as showing to what extent this feature sometimes occurs in this country, — an extent which I have nowhere found paralleled in the European variety, either in life, in collections, or illustrations. I have met with a few fancy sketches greatly exaggerating the extent and number of branches on the European variety, which were evidently de- signed to impress those who saw them rather than instruct the student of natural history. These should not mislead us. The illustrations of the antlers of the Woodland Caribou (awie, pp. 200, 202) are carefully drawn copies of specimens in my own collection, and are selected to give the fair ordinary form of the Caribou's antlers, that is, the average form. One of these, from the Caribou, shows as little palmatation as that from the Euro- pean Reindeer and may be considered the other extreme in this regard, and should be set opposite those from Hardy, while the mean between them may be considered the truth. It will be observed, that the nearly palmless antlers of the Caribou are very much stouter than those from the European Reindeer. If we take mounted specimens, to be met with in public collec- tions, they would generally be found more palmated, for the sim- ple reason that we are apt to select the best, that is, the largest, the most branching, or most palmated specimens for mounting ; and indeed the hunter is more apt to save these than inferior or ordinary specimens, for the reason that they will bring him a higher price. These are matters ever to be borne in mind by him who would study or illustrate nature as it actually exists. 1 Ante, p. 206. 328 THE DEER OF AMERICA. One set of the illustrations of antlers on the European Reindeer, are from a living pair in the Zoological Gardens at Berlin, and the others are faithful copies of the antlers of a male and female wild Reindeer, which I brought from Arctic Norway, procured in Tromsoe (see ante, p. 203, and joosi, 329, 330). I have not illus- trated any extreme cases of palmatation of the European variety, for the simple reason that I have not met with them, though I have examined many collections in Europe ; still I have no doubt they exist, though far short of those copied from Captain Hardy's valuable work. Those presented I believe fairly illustrate the average antler of the European variety, and by comparison the reader will readily appreciate the difference in structure which my investigations teach me exists. There are two other peculiarities common to these varieties and not observed on the antlers of the other deer. The first is the exceedingly small burr, which frequently in some portions of the circumference is quite wanting, and in no part is ever promi- nent ; and the other is that the beam is never round, but its sur- face presents rounded angles and partially flat spaces between them, approaching nearer to a triangular form than any other figure. In size the European Reindeer, whether wild or tame, is appre- ciably smaller than our Woodland Caribou, though much larger than the Barren-ground Caribou. There is as great a difference in size between the American and the European varieties of the Reindeer as there is between the moose and the elk, the differ- ence in both cases being in favor of the American varieties. Thus we see that in the American varieties we have the most palmated antlers and the largest size. The Woodland Caribou in exceptional cases attain to a very large size ; and from the best examination I have been able to give the subject, I think it safe to say that they average one quarter to one third larger than the wild Reindeer in Europe. Captain Hardy supposed that they attain their best development and perfection on the Atlantic side of the continent ; but further investigations I think tend strongly to show that they are quite as large on the western side of the continent. In Northeastern Asia the Reindeer are represented, as we have elsewhere seen, as attaining an extraordinary size in domestica- tion ; and as the experiments in Western Europe do not show that man's direct care and dominion over them have tended to in-, crease their development, we may fairly presume that the same CONGENERS. 329 improvement in size may be met among the wild specimens in that far eastern country. The difference in size, therefore be" tween the eastern and the western varieties is no^ univeri! but of EuUpe "" " ""^'"' "^*' *^°^^ °^ *^« ^-tt In form, also there is an appreciable difference between the American and European varieties of this deer. This will be readily appreciated by comparing the illustrations here presented Wild European Reindeer, Male. of a pair of wild Reindeer in the Zoological Gardens at Berlin, which were drawn by a skillful artist there under the supervision of Prof. William Peters, expressly for this work, and the illustra- tions of the Woodland Caribou (see pp. 85, 88). The former has more the form of a prize bullock than of a deer. Ours is a little more graceful in form, but still lacks those symmetrical pro- portions, which would suggest those agile movements of which 330 THE DEER OF AMERICA. they are certainly capable. We must remember, however, that the animals are represented when standing perfectly at ease rumi- nating. When excited they present an animated appearance, and would hardly be taken for the same animals. The extraordina- rily broad foot is common to both, though more conspicuous on the European than the American variety. Altogether these ani- mals are so strikingly alike, even in their exceptional forms, as to at once suggest a relationship. I have had no more interesting study during my investigations than comparing these animals. Wild European Reindeer, Female. In color, also, there is a marked difference between the wild deer of Norway and our Caribou, but unlike the larger species, in which the Swedish elk is lighter than the moose, we find the Norwegian Reindeer in the wild state are very appreciably darker than ours and much more uniform in shade on the different indi- viduals, and especially with less white about the neck. A study of the domesticated Reindeer in Lapland of course can teach us nothing on this point, for as with other domesticated animals their color has become unstable to a very considerable extent, al- though even with them a large propoi'tion retain the dark brown chocolate shade which is quite uniform on the wild deer, in that region, especially in early winter coat. In all else I have been unable to detect any difference in these CONGENERS. 331 two varieties of reindeer ; and unless we are very ambitious to multiply species, it seems to me that we cannot be justified in declaring that these slight and comparatively unimportant dis- tinctions, which are also quite common among individuals of each variety, constitute specific differences. If any one of these distinctions were found to be strictly uniform on each individual of the respective varieties, we might well pause before conclud- ing that the difference was owing to factitious causes. If, for in- stance, we had found that the antlers on each individual of the Caribou were formed exactly alike, and on each individual of the Eastern Reindeer the antlers were found invariably of a precise pattern, but sensibly differing from the others, we might be led to_ suspect a fundamental cause for the variation. In all else the similitudes are perfect, so far as I have been able to discover, in habits, structure, and markings. Many of these are peculiar to this species, and very remarkable. What more can I, or need I, say in vindication of those zoolo- gists, who have concluded that the Reindeer of Europe and Amer- ica are of the same species ? THE WAPITI AND THE EED DEEK. We now come to the third and last species in which strong analogies are found between the specimens found on the two con- tinents. These are the American Elk (C. Canadensis), and the Red Deer, or Stag of Europe ((7. elaphus'). That there are more discrepancies and fewer analogies between these than between the species just considered, is very plain to "the careful observer, especially if he only examines the specimens of the present day. It is necessary, however, if we would fully understand their natural history, to study them in the light of the past as well as of the present, for the important inquiry is as to a com- mon origin, even in remote antiquity. If in this we can trace two separate lines constantly diverging, though it may be but little, we may rationally conclude that, could we trace them back far enough while they are constantly approaching each other, we should at last find them uniting at some point whence they commenced their departure. If originally from the same stock, long ages must have elapsed since their final separation by the interposition of a physical barrier which could not be overstepped, during which they have grown on independently with no possibility of intermingling, to 332 THE DEER OF AMERICA. bring tliem back to greater similitude to the common parent, during which their different conditions of life must have estab- lished physical peculiarities in each, which would finally become hereditary, and these peculiarities must have become multiplied and magnified in each with the continuance of time and genera- tion, and so the diverging lines would become continually more and more separated. It is a divine law stamped on all mat- ter, that nothing is stationary ; change, perpetual and unceasing change must ever occur, else the work of the Supreme Architect would be at last finished, and when finished, his supervising care would be no longer required. Such a time, we think, can never come, even as to the minutest particle of matter, else it would at last arrive as to all things. If the law of change is ever active ; if destruction and reconstruction are always at work, observation tells us that every reconstruction differs in some respect, however minute, from all that had been before ; the long aggregation of minute changes must in time become very great, how great no one may venture to define. The extrac- tion of single drops of water would at length dry the bed of the ocean ; the removal of single grains of sand would displace a desert in the course of time. If change is ever continuous, who shall fix limits to transformations which may at length occur. These are considerations which may be well remembered when we approach the present inquiry. We all know that there are certain features in the animal economy which are comparatively transitory, and so are easily obliterated or changed, while others are more persistent, and maintain their integrity to a greater or less degree under almost all circumstances or conditions. The nearer alike these pecul- iarities are found to be on all the individuals of a species, we may reasonably conclude the more persistent they are and the less change they have undergone during the course of time. How long the physical condition of the earth has rendered it impossible for these two varieties to intermingle, and so keep up an absolute identity, of course it is impossible to conjecture; but, at the shortest, it must have been a very long time. At least the generations must be counted by very many thousands. During that time we first notice that a great change has taken place in the size : the western has become much larger than the eastern. That one may have increased in size on the western continent, while the other has grown smaller on the eastern, at- tributable to physical causes, as aliment, climate, or the like, CONGENERS. 333 may be supposed, although we may be unable to recognize, these causes with certainty. The most remarkable difference, besides the size, is in the longer tail of the Stag, the partial obliteration of the white sec- tion on the rump on many of the individuals, and on others the presence of a line of spots along the flanks on either side of the dorsal line, similar to those which I have mentioned as sometimes l:^^\\AiM Red Deer or Stag of Europe. observed on the common deer, though more distinct and more persistent. I observed these spots only on a very few of the Red Deer. In size the antlers vary much on different individuals of both species, but I judge they would average about the same in pro- portion to the size of the animals. There are some characteris- 334 THE DEER OF AMERICA. tics of the antlers of the Red Deer in which a difference may be observed from those of our Elk, but the more the subject is studied the more these differences disappear. On page 333 I present the figure of a Red Deer in the Zoolog- ical Gardens in Berlin, drawn "from life, by the same artist who drew the reindeer. By comparing it with the Wapiti (awie, p. 76), their likeness will be seen; and by comparing its antlers and the antlers of the Red Deer (ante, pp. 214, 332), with the common and crown antlers of our Elk (^ante, p. 210), it will be readily seen how peculiar and yet how alike they are. While the general figures of these antlers are quite unlike those of any other mem- ber of the family, they are strictly alike in design, though in detail there are some differences, which are frequent though not universal. The first to be noticed is that the bez-tine is much shorter than the brow or the royal tine on the Red Deer, while on our Elk it is usually about the same length as the brow-tine, and the royal is usually shorter than either ; still this is not universally the case, and formerly these peculiarities were less observable in both than now. This is manifest from an examina- tion of a great number of fossil antlers found in both countries. And this is true of another characteristic as well. It is now ex- ceedingly rare to find the snag on the upper side of the brow- antler of the Red Deer. Of all that I examined in Europe, I found it well developed only on one pair of antlers of the present day, and they were from Bohemia, and would have been taken at once by any naturalist to have come from America, and yet we have seen that this snag is developed in about five per cent, in this country. The crown antler, which is shown in the illustrations, is very common in Europe, but is very rare in this country ; and until quite lately I had no evidence of its existence here; but I am ilow enabled to illustrate a pair of antlers from an American Elk from the Rocky Mountains, both of which are crown antlers, as well developed as is often met with in Europe (^ante, p. 210). The fossil antlers found in Europe show a much larger propor- tion with the snag on the brow-antler, and a less proportion of crown antlers than are grown there at the present day, while these antlers are much larger and about the size of our Elk antlers. If we should take all the fossil antlers of this animal which I have examined in Europe and America, and arrange them to- gether promiscuously, I at least should have difiiculty in cor- CONGENERS. 335 rectly classifying them, while I would make few mistakes in classifying those of the present day. The finest collection of both together which I have ever seen was in Berlin, where they were kept for sale, and where I had an excellent opportunity of studying them, to which I have al- ready referred in the chapter on antlers. Those from Northern Europe were easily distinguished from those from America, but those from Silesia, Bohemia, and Hungary were much larger, and in all things much more like those from the American Elk, and in many of the specimens I was at a loss to declare on which continent they grew. Judging from the antlers alone, upon all the evidence I have been able to accumulate, I could hardly hesitate to say that the Stag of Europe is a degenerate descendant of the same parents to which our Elk owe their origin, and that this degeneracy is most marked in those of the most northern countries. I have else- where remarked that our own Elk grow larger in the southern ranges, than in the northern, while the reverse is the case with most if not all of the other species of the family. Another exceptional feature as connected with the antler, may not be without significance. In no case does the Wapiti or American Elk shed its antlers in the winter, but always carries them till spring opens, if the animal be in health. All the other members of the family drop their antlers at irregular intervals, from November till spring, except the female caribou, as is more fully explained in the article on the antlers. In this very re- markable habit the Red Deer corresponds with our Elk. On this point Professor William Peters of Berlin writes me : " Concern- ing the shedding of the horns of our Cervus elaphus, I can give you for Germany the following data : generally, they drop the horns in March ; very strong stags sometimes already in Feb- ruary, and younger ones carry them often till the month of May." This is a confirmation of the information which I have received in answer to all the inquiries I had made in Europe of those whose opportunities enabled them to observe the occurrence 'and whose observations would be considered valuable. Of the Red Deer, Guvier says : " The antlers are shed in spring, the old ones losing them first." How exactly this corresponds with the habit of our Elk may be seen by turning to what is said of them in the article on the antlers. The absence of the tarsal gland in both, which is entirely exceptional in this country, and the exact similitude of the metatarsal gland in all its niinute characteristics. 336 THE DEER OF AMERICA. when we consider its extraordinary constancy in all the species, speaks very much in favor of their common origin. In both, this gland is located in the same place, in both it is entirely covered with white hairs, which are surrounded by a tuft of darker hairs ; this again is surrounded by a border of tawny color, which unites below the tuft, the tawny shade continu- ing down the posterior edge of the leg to the foot, and in both the tuft is of the same relative size. While these are so exactly alike on all the individuals of both these varieties, on none of the other members of the genus, in this country, at least, is this gland overgrown with hair, a very remarkable coincidence if they are not relatives. There is a difference in the color of these animals which seems to have become permanent and characteristic. The general color of the body of the Wapiti is a yellowish gray on the back and sides, with a darker shade on the belly, neck, and legs. The Stag shows a reddish gray, instead of the yellowish gray, also with a darker shade below as on the x\merican variety, but the differ- ence in color is no greater than on the two other species whose analogies we have already considered. The white border around the eye, a mark observed on most though not all of the deer fam- il}', though varying greatly in extent on different individuals, is still generally present on the Stag, is more faded on Wapiti, and on some individuals seems wanting. After all, the greatest distinction I have been able to discover is in the tail, that on the Red Deer being appreciably longer in proportion to the size of the animal than on our Elk, it having more of a rufous shade of color and terminating less abruptly, or being more pointed. On our Elk the tail is so short that it does not cover the genital organ of the female, while this is completely hidden on the Red Deer. Of all the differences which I have been able to discover between these two animals, this to rae has seemed the most important and has made me hesitate longest in making up my mind as to the identity of the species. The difference in size of the animals, though very great, say more than one half, has very little significance in determining the question. Very great differences exist among individuals on both sides. I have seen some Red Deer as large as some of my smallest Elk, although this is no doubt of rare occurrence. But we have still greater differences in size among some of our undoubted species. The average of the Virginia deer is twice as large in the north as when found in its most southern range. CONGENERS. 337 while in all other respects they exactly correspond, and no ra- tional doubt should exist of their specific identity. The mule deer in the Rocky Mountains is four times as large as in Lower California, which difference is also supplemented by the fact that the change in the antler is quite as great, for on all of the small variety the antler has ceased to be bifurcated, but presents a spike like that of the yearling deer of the north ; or if ever bi- furcated that feature is as rare as on the first antlers of the bet- ter developed variety of the north, and yet I do not hesitate to rank them in the same species from their exact similitude in all other respects, according to the reliable information I have re- ceived of them. With the same propriety might we deny that the Fuegian and the Patagonian are of the same species. In considering this question of specific identity we should by no means forget that these animals freely interbreed whenever they have opportunity, and their progeny proves as fertile as either of the parents, as has been shown in the article on Hy- bridity. While this should not be considered as conclusive evi- dence of specific identity, it is important cumulative evidence in that direction. If in the wild state in the forest it were found that the sexes showed the same inclination for each other which they show for the opposite sex of their own varieties, this would add vastly to the weight of the evidence and would make out a verj"^ Btvong primd facie case at least ; for, as is shown in another place, the sexes of separate species have a natural sexual aversion for each other which is more marked in the female, and although this no doubt may be sometimes overcome in the wild state and without constraint, and so hybrids produced voluntarily, probably if the truth could be known we should find that the female re- ceived the embraces of the male only when she could not find a male of her own species. After years of experimenting with as great facilities as are likely to be often enjoyed, I at least have been unable to obtain a hybrid under other conditions, and even when no proper male has been on any part of the grounds suc- cess has very rarely attended my efforts, as is more fully shown in another place. After the best investigation and consideration I have been able to give the subject — and my opportunities have not been stinted, — I am inclined to fall back into the ranks of those nat- uralists who first compared the two animals, who failed to find sufficient differences to justify the erection of a new species to accommodate the new variety found on this continent, and I 22 338 THE DEER OF AMERICA. should have been well justified in dropping the specific name of Cervus Canadensis and returning to that of Cervus elaphus. THE ACAPULCO DEER AND THE CEYLON DEEE. The similarity in size, form, color, and habits of our little Aca- pulco Deer and the Ceylon Deer in my grounds, is so great, that no naturalist would be inclined to declare them specifically differ- ent, but for the absence of the metatarsal gland in the one, while it is very distinctly present in the other (see illustration, ante, p. 258). Even the antlers have a striking similarity, although I have but one set grown on the adult Acapulco Deer, and two sets grown on the Ceylon buck in my grounds, and those grown in 1874 differ in an important particular from those grown on the same animal in 1873, in that the latter showed a very long anterior prong in proportion to the length of the beam, while on the former it is but a snag, although still longer than the snag on the Acapulco deer. In both there is a decided tendency to flatten towards the end of the beam, but the foreign deer has the longest and slimmest beam. Still it would be necessary to com- pare a much larger number than I have been able to do, before we can pronounce definitely as to positive distinctions, if there really be any. At last we are brought face to face with the question whether the entire absence of the metatarsal gland on one, and its distinct presence on the other, is sufiicient to establish a specific differ- ence. For myself I am prepared to recognize such difference. I am undoubtedly strengthened in this conclusion from the fact that they come from places separated by ten thousand miles of ocean, and one from an isolated island in the ocean, presenting insuperable obstacles to a common origin within an immense dis- tance of time, to say the least. Lest there might be some mistake as to the habitat of this Ceylon Deer, which after a careful study showed so great a sim- ilarity to the deer from Mexico, I wrote to Governor Latham, who presented me with the buck, inquiring if it were not pos- sible that there was a mistake as to its origin ; to which he answered that there could be no mistake, for he took it from a sailing vessel which had just arrived at San Francisco from Cey- lon, which had not touched at any intermediate port. The other arrived at San Francisco while I was there, on a Pacific mail steamer, from Panama, which touched at Acapulco, where the CONGENERS. 339 deer was taken on board. On the question of the habitat of these animals, I have deemed it important to be very particular, and the result is that I cannot doubt that their nativities are as stated. Had both been found in the same range, I confess I should have long hesitated before concluding that the absence of the metatarsal gland in one, and its presence in the other, would alone justify us in declaring a specific difference; nor would it in any case, but from the fact that an examination of a great num- ber of individuals of most of the species, and a considerable num- ber of all, enable us to say that it is the most constant and uni- form of all the indicia to be found on any of them. Where it is wanting on one individual of a species, it is wanting on all, and where it is present on one, it is present on all, and is precisely alike on all of the same species, and entirely unlike that found on either of the other species ; so that no two of different species at all resemble each other in this regard, while in no two of the same species can any difference be detected. If other naturalists have attached less importance, or even no importance, to this than I do, I must be pardoned for saying that I think it is because they have studied it less. Had I found this gland present or absent in both, and so been unable to point out any substantial difference between them although coming from so widely separated localities, what should I say then as to their specific identity ; when it is certain that the races must have been separated for an immense period of time, to say the least? He who will answer the following ques- tion will answer that. When races or animals are alike, but in nowise related to each other, are they of the same species ? In connection with this subject, I repeat, that under the most fav- orable circumstances I found these deer to interbreed very reluc- tantly, and months after the proper season, but then the union was fully fertile, for the doe produced twins; however, these were still-born, or died very soon after birth. Not the least indi- cation of the metatarsal gland can be found on either of these fawns, which, of course, are added to my collection. I do not know but hybrids are as liable to be twins as others. Mares very rarely have twins, and yet I have heard of one well au- thenticated instance of twin mules in my own neighborhood. Altogether I think it very clear that there is a sexual aversion observed in these deer which is usually observed between individ- uals of different species, which augments the evidence of specific 340 THE DEER OF AMERICA. difference very much. In this we have the testimony of the an- imals themselves, which is scarcely less satisfactory than manifest physical differences ; nay, I am not prepared to say that this sexual aversion, which is so clearly manifest, is not more conclu- sive than very considerable variations of physical structure. Should we bring together two parties of deer, of several individ- uals, brought from distant localities, different physically in what we might consider important features, and find them associat- ing and interbreeding without the least restraint or reluctance, we should regard it as conclusive of specific identity, notwith- standing the physical differences. A white crow is recognized by his black brethren as a good crow, notwithstanding his degener- ate color, and the albino deer is regarded by the others as good a deer as the best of them. The doe in my collection was shot when standing by the side of a buck of the ordinary color. The social standing and sexual inclination manifested must be allowed to overcome serious difficulties in establishing relation- ship, and so on the other hand where aversion exists instead of inclination, it assures us of a radical difference though we may be unable to detect it on mere inspection. In this case the sex- ual aversion adds much to the significance of the absence of the gland on the hind leg, and leads us to expect that the compara- tive anatomist will surely find other differences which we cannot now detect. It is an additional evidence of the importance of this gland in classifying the deer. DISEASES OF THE DEER. It is only when the deer are in confinement that we can study the diseases to which they are subject and their mode of treat- ment. That they are liable to distempers in the wild state either epidemic or contagious, which sometimes carry off great numbers, we may not doubt, as we sometimes receive pretty well authenticated accounts of such calamities. Such accounts as I have noticed have, however, been confined to the Virginia Deer. If the moose or the caribou are in the wild state subject to dis- tempers I do not know it, and yet it is not improbable that such calamities may sometimes befall them but have not been observed. The Wapiti are undoubtedly very healthy and hardy, and ca- pable of enduring great vicissitudes. I have for many years had large numbers, and am not aware that one was ever sick. If only they get enough to eat, it scarcely matters what, they re- main healthy and in good condition. With me the Mule Deer have not proved healthy. The first pair I procured, I turned into the park where a considerable growth of white clover had established itself among the blue grass. In about a month T observed them drooling, and exam- ination showed that both were badly salivated. This I attributed to the white clover, and I immediately turned them into the flower garden where they could not find the clover, but a great variety of other food. All the deer are very fond of flowers and flowering plants and shrubs. The female, which was the oldest and not so badly affected as the other, recovered in a few weeks, but the buck was too far gone ; his teeth finally dropped out and he died. The doe was never again afflicted in the same way, — nor for that matter any other deer, — though she ran in the same grounds for several years thereafter. The next Mule buck I procured seemed quite healthy for sev- eral years ; when at last, in the month of May, I found him in the East Park with hoofs grown to fully four inches in length, so that he could only walk with great difficulty and on his heels. I sawed about an inch from each toe, which enabled him to walk more comfortably, and turned him into the orchard. Although he seemed to eat and ruminate pretty well, still he grew worse. 342 THE DEER OF AMERICA. and died within a month. His liver was greatly enlarged and gorged with bile. In both the East Park and in the orchard this deer had found a plenty of arboreous food. When the Mule fawns were about a year old, they both showed the same symptoms, — elongation of the hoofs. I immediately took them up and put them on dry feed, and gave them small doses of podophyllum, and tonics, as ginseng, quassia, quinine, and the like, giving them daily a small supply of the foliage and twigs of the wild cherry. Their hoofs immediately stopped the abnormal growth, and in ten days they commenced ruminating again, and in a month they were turned out quite well. These are all the cases of this distemper I have ever had. In the fall both these fawns were attacked with a diarrhea when they were again put in hospital and treated as before, with promising re- sults. The disease was checked, and returned several times, but before winter the female died. The buck struggled with it for two months, till finally he seemed quite recovered and did finely till spring. The disease then returned and he succumbed when two years old. In short this is the history of all the Mule Deer I have had except the two first, and the one which died having the elongated hoof. This disease has proved fatal to all the Mule Deer after remaining healthy for one or two or three years, and most of the Columbia deer have died of the same disease. I have had a pretty extensive practice with these deer, and have often been able to afford relief, but this disease was sure to re- turn, perhaps, on some slight provocation. The last I had was when the acorns were ripe, which I gathered and fed to her. For a day this seemed but to aggravate the distemper, but being persisted in she got much better, but my hopes were again dis- appointed, and she died in November. Only these two species have been afHicted with diarrhea. I have lost many Virginia Deer with a swelling under the lower jaw. It commences two or three inches back of the chin, and finally swells out so as to involve the whole head below the eyes ; sometimes it gathers in a sac of half an ounce of pus-like matter, one of which I opened, but the deer died. I never knew one to break itself. When the tame deer are attacked with this distemper, and it is observed in time, I have never failed to cure it. If when it first appears it is examined, a small hard kernel is found just under the skin. If this is then cut out the deer gets well at once. Later, the lump seems to be dissipated, but if the swelling has not extended above the lower jaw, though it may be DISEASES OF THE DEER. 343 three inches long, and the protuberance an inch thick, and really has an alarming appearance, a deep central incision an inch or more long has always proved effectual. But as only the tame deer, which can be caught, can be treated, all the wild Virginia Deer which have been attacked, so far as I know, have died. In the early part of my experiments, this disease was much more prevalent than in later years, and so I conclude that those more remotely descended from the wild stock are the least liable to it. It only attacks the adults, or those more than two years old. Two of the Ceylon adult does have been attacked with it, both of which were dropped in my ground. They were too wild to be taken and treated, but to my surprise both recovered, which has I think never happened with the Virginia Deer. I have no account that this disease has ever been observed among the wild deer of the forests ; certainly, I have never seen one afflicted with it. I have never observed any symptoms of it either among the Elk, the Mule deer, the Columbia deer, or the Acapulco deer. THE CHASE. No saint in the calendar has had more devoted or more pains- taking disciples than Saint Hubert. In savage life, the pursuit of vs^ild beasts or the capture of fish has always been a necessity, and in all ages, and in all civilized countries, many persons have found their most exquisite enjoyments in the same pursuit. As a general rule, these persons are lovers of nature unmarred by the hand of man. They love to hear the rushing of mighty vraters, and they love the soft cadence of the murmuring brook. They love the deep shade of the primeval forest, and they love the broad expanse of the wild prairie, with its green, grassy car- pet, gemmed all over with brilliant wild flowers whose fragrance they inhale with a new delight. They love the rocky canon and the mountain crag, where the throes of nature have upheaved the earth's deep crust and thrown all into a wild confusion, as if in anger an Almighty hand had there dashed the debris of another world. They love to sleep beneath the old pine tree, and listen to the sighing of the wind as it softly creeps through its long and slender leaves, or upon the soft grass by the side of the sweet spring of water under the broad spreading oak, the rustling of , whose leaves soothes to quiet repose. They love to listen to the raging storm, and see its wild work all around them; and so they love the soothing influence of the quiet calm, when nature seems in profoimd repose, and all is still as the infant's sleep. At the break of day upon t^ie mountain side they love to count the stars, and witness the waking of animated nature, when the birds fly forth to sing, and the beasts leave their lairs to seek their food while yet the dew softens the herbage which they love the best. They love to catch the sun's first rays as they dart from beneath the distant horizon, feeling new life and vigor as they shine upon them, and with swelling heart they watch him rise, as if from a bed of rest, and cast his smile upon the new- born day. Oh, it is a glorious joy to be where the defacing hand of man has never marred the harmonious beauty which pervades Nature's handiworks. There we look with reverence and awe upon what God has done, and what God alone could do, and re- joice, even in our insignificance, that we are permitted there to THE CHASE. 345 contemplate sucli sublime display. Far away from ever-restless city life, and its surging crowd and its tainted air, we love to breathe the air of freedom sweet and uncontaminated, where every breath revives the spirits, stimulates the circulation, awak- ens the dormant energies, and inspires new life within us. If this be savage life, then am I a savage still. If .these be traits of character inherited from remote barbaric ancestors, I rejoice that civilization has failed to strangle what in them was purest and most elevating. But the sportsman of the present day is admitted to a higher pleasure than those of ancient times could ever know. For this he is indebted to our civilization, which while it could n6t eradi- cate in him a love of nature, has enabled him to understand na- ture, — to become a naturalist ; to know about that nature which surrounds him, and which he loves so well ; to appreciate the characteristics and the peculiarities of those objects whose chase and capture fills him with such a thrill of pleasure. When he has shot a bird, captured a quadruped, or taken a fish, he takes it up and examines it as he would a book full of knowledge, and is enabled to see its peculiarities, and discover its many points of beauty and harmony, which those who simply kill to eat, or per- haps from a love of blood and slaughter, can never see, or seeing could not appreciate, and so enjoy. The cougar seeks his prey to satisfy his hunger, the sportsman that he may study nature in her various phases and understand her harmonies ; the better he is qualified to do these, the higher will be his sense of pleasure at his captures. I am gratified to observe among modern sportsmen a more elevated tone, a higher culture, by which they the better understand the natural history of the various objects which they pursue. Of all men they have the greatest opportunities to observe the characteristics of the animals which they meet with in the chase, and the better they learn how to observe, the more will they observe and compare, and note down, and through them may we soon hope to gather a fund of scientific observations, which will leave far behind all that has been written or known of many of our most familiar animals. Even now he takes with him to his camp in the forest works on natural history, treating of those animals which he pro- poses to pursue, and critically compares his captures with the observations of the authors, and corrects or confirms their state- ments. To the pot hunter, who kills the game to sell as a butcher does a sheep, pursues it not because he is a lover of nature, and 346 THE DEER OF AMERICA. takes no more pleasure in it than he would in weeding a bed of onions, of course a study of the animals he kills would afford him no pleasure, but to the cultivated mind capable of understanding and appreciating the works of the Divine hand, the pleasures of the pursuit are immeasurably enhanced by a capacity to under- stand the object taken. No other genus of quadrupeds is distributed over so large a portion of the earth's surface as the Cervidse, no other has so largely contributed to the sustenance of uncivilized man, and the flesh of no other is so generally admired as food. From the fact that it has contributed more than any other quadruped to the support of savage life, it has been more the object of pursuit than any other by uncivilized races. In the border settlements of our own country, the deer has been an important source of food supply to our frontier settlers, who might justly be called a race of hunters; very few indeed have made it a constant business, but nearly all have made it an occasional and incidental pursuit. From the earliest times to the present, the deer has occupied the first rank as a game animal, affording exercise and excite- ment to the sportsman. In Africa alone the deer are not abun- dant, but the antelope, the buffalo, and the elephant, are there the principal objects of pursuit by the savage and the civilized. In a very limited area in our own country, the bison is, or was, more important than the deer, but the district is so small wherw the bison is or was found in plenty, that it loses all com- parison with the deer, which are abundant, in mountain and val- ley, in forest and prairie, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Cape Horn to the frozen islands in the Arctic Sea. In savage life, without the means furnished by civilization, the capture of the deer and other game was accomplished to a considerable extent by bows and arrows, but chiefly by means of traps or inclosures of various kinds, and the promptings of want developed contrivances which insured a large measure of Siiccess. These are all based upon the capabilities of the animals, de- veloped by their habits, which were a life study of the Indian hunter, and were comprehended by him in a remarkable degree. The principal of these, or at least the most important, are the defect of vision and the acuteness of the senses of smell and of hearing. These are characteristics which are common to all deer, and must never be forgotten by the[^savage hunter or the civilized THE CHASE. 347 sportsman. All have recognized the acute senses of smell an hearing, and so they have acted upon the defective vision, some- times without clearly comprehending why it was that they were required so to act in order to insure success. THE MOOSE. We have reason to believe that the Indian was not partic- ularly successful in the capture of the Moose with the bow and the arrow. The great size, strength, and endurance of the an- imal rendered it difficult to bring him down with that weapon, unless at very close range, and his ability to detect the least sound, and to notice the least taint in the air, rendered a close approach very difficult. In summer time he was more fre- quently captured in the water. At that season he affects marshy grounds, where lakes and lakelets abound, and into these he plunges to escape the torments of the flies and mosquitoes, deeply immersing himself much of the time, generally with only his nose above water. In this position he could be successfully attacked by the Indians in their canoes, at sufficiently close quarters to make their arrows effective, or they could even dis- able him with blows before he could escape. This was often dangerous sport or business, whichever you please to call it, for a single blow from the antlers or the foot of a moose was suffi- cient to demolish or sink a canoe, when the hunter would be fortunate if he escaped with his life. This mode of pursuit was, however, generally successful, and much meat was obtained in that way by the natives. The Moose, and so of the other deer, have their favorite paths or highways in the forests where they abound, and in these they were frequently captured. For this purpose a lasso was cut from the green hide of the Moose, by following round it, cutting wider at the thinner portions, till the desired length was attained. The hair was then closely shaved off, the thong twisted to the proper degree, and then stretched to the utmost, and in this position dried. After this it was made pliable to a certain degree, by working or use, retaining, however, sufficient rigidity for the purpose. This was suspended across a convenient limb, with a running noose at one end, which was suspended directly over the path, abundantly large for the head and antlers of the largest Moose to pass through, but sufficiently high from the ground to obstruct the passage of the feet. To the other end a heavy 348 THE DEER OF AMERICA. weight, usually a log of wood, was attached. This was held suspended high above the ground by a trip, properly arranged, which was to spring by the least strain from the loop of the thong. Through this the Moose would unsuspectingly pass, till his breast, or fore legs should touch the lower line of the noose, when the trip would spring, the weight would drop, and the line would be drawn tightly around the neck of the animal. The attachment to the limb not being rigid, the animal could go some distance by drawing the log up to the limb, but by the time this was done, the animal would be nearly choked down, the drag of the weight always maintaining the severe tension. A few minutes rearing and struggling must always end in the death of the animal. In this mode the Indians captured many moose, elk, and other animals, before they obtained fire-arms ; and even since, it has been sometimes resorted to with success. Whymper describes the mode practiced by the Indians in Alaska, of pursuing the Moose in the summer time. He says : " One was killed in the water by the knife of the Indian. The natives do not always waste powder and shot over them, but get near the moose, maneuvering round in their birch-bark canoes till the animal is fatigued, and then stealthily approach and stab it in the heart or loins." ^ All agree that they take to the water readily, and are good swimmers, though they swim higher than the common deer. In the summer thej"^ are usually hunted about the lakes and rivers which they frequent, and probably more are killed in the water and on the islands than on the main land. The author above quoted, in a note, says : " In some cases, the Indians in numbers surround an island known to have moose or reindeer 'on it, when a regular battue ensues." The greatest slaughter of the Moose by the natives — and so it has been by the white men since — took place in the winter, when the country was covered over with deep snow. With the aid of snow-shoes, the Indians could pursue them at a rapid pace, while the Moose had to struggle through the snow, into which he would sink his whole depth at every step. No endurance could sustain him a long time with such labor, and his prodigious strength must at last succumb, while the Indian was rapidly pur- suing him on the surface of the light snow on his broad snow- shoes. Later in the season, when the surface of the snow was softened or melted by the sun during the day, and became frozen I Travels in Alaska and on the Yukon, p. 246. THE CHASE. 349 hard during the night, a crust would be formed sufficient to bear a man or a dog, but incapable of sustaining the Moose. When a Moose was found under such conditions, he was quite at the mercy of his pursuers. For a short distance he could force his way through the treacherous snow, into which he would sink at every step, but in rising from it the sharp edges of the icy crust would cut and bruise his legs in a cruel way, and he would soon be overtaken and dispatched. This cruel mode of pursuing the deer has not been confined to the northern regions, where alone the Moose are met with, nor yet to the aborigines, who hunted for the necessaries of life, and whose greatest resource was the deer, but whenever the condi- tions permitted, great numbers of the Virginia deer were thus pursued and slaughtered, not only by the aborigines, but by our frontier settlers as well. Fortunately, in the lower latitudes, where the Virginia deer are most abundant, deep snows covered with this strong crust have been of rare occurrence. In these conditions the deer are more helpless than any other quadruped, by reason of the small, sharp foot, which cuts through the crust, while most other animals would be supported upon it. The reindeer or caribou, whose foot presents a much broader surface for support, has been less persecuted in this way than the other members of the family. Both the Moose and the caribou, during the winter, when deep snows are frequent in the forests which they inhabit, collect together in small bands and form what are called yards, gen- erally the females and young by themselves. Some of these are more complete than others, and it is only the most perfect which have been usually described by authors and hunters. In these the deer tramp the snow down to a hard floor throughout the yard, leaving it surrounded by a vertical wall of the untrodden snow. The places selected for these yards are dense thickets, affording the greatest abundance of shrubbery, yielding their favorite food, which is arboreous. This they utterly destroy within their yard, by consuming the twigs and stripping off the bark. Even the large trees which they cannot bend down to reach the tops, they denude of the bark so far as they can reach. If they do not relish this coarse, dry bark of the large trees, they consume it all to satisfy their hunger. When all the food within the yard, — which sometimes becomes considerably ex- tended to reach the shrubbery, — is consumed, they break their way to another location where a fresh supply may be found, and form a new yard. 350 THE DEER OF AMERICA. It is rare, however, that these yards have all the surface com- pactly trodden down. They make paths from the radial points to reach the trees or shrubbery in the neighborhood, so that the area of their habitation is much extended by streets or paths, well packed down, between which the deep snow remains undis- turbed, and frequently this system of paths constitutes the yard, with but a very limited central area, quite trodden down. When the snow is deep and covered with a hard crust, the deer are sought in these yards, but not exclusively. The reindeer are much less accustomed to yard in winter than the Moose, and it is a habit rarely observed in any other of the deer family, so far as I have information. Since the appearance of civilized man with firearms, and the introduction of those weapons among the savages, a change has necessarily been made in the chase of the deer, as well as other game, or at least the old modes are less relied upon, and the new weapon has become the principal dependence. The mode of hunting this deer now is, in general, the same with the civilized and the savage hunter, especially on the frontiers and with the larger species, which are only found in the wilderness beyond the borders of the white settlements. More endurance and sagacity are required in the chase of the Moose Deer than anj'- of the others, for they are more suspicious and cautious, and seem to possess the senses of smell and hear- ing in a higher degree than the smaller species. Indeed, it seems to be a general rule that the older and the larger specimens of a given species are more difficult to capture than the smaller, as well as that the larger species are more cautious than the smaller. A life-long experience and study of the habits of the animal and of wood craft, seem to have endowed the Indian with greater skill than the white man, especially in the pursuit of the Moose and the Caribou ; hence the white hunter generally secures the services of an Indian when he goes in pursuit of this noble game. The proper season for hunting the Moose is at the commence- ment of the rut, say in September, when his antlers have per- fected their growth, the velvet has been rubbed off, and they have become finely polished against the trees. Then it is, that he is in the best condition and the venison is the choicest ; then it is, that his desires have stimulated his courage and deprived him of a portion of that caution which makes his capture so dif- THE CHASE. 351 ficult. Then it is, that he may be met with, rashly roaming through the forest hunting for a mate, at the same time seeking combats with his own species and sex. After he has found the mate he desires, and they have retired to the secluded place se- lected for their home where they are to pass the honey moon — I have already stated that they are monogamic — they give up this roving habit and remain quietly at home, till the season is passed, unless disturbed by the hunter or the male is divorced and expelled by some powerful rival. When his domestic rela- tions are thus broken up he again starts on his travels more mad- dened and fierce than before, and although he may be an ugly brute to meet and provoke, the lack of his customary caution makes him fall a more easy prey to the cautious hanter. Two modes of hunting the Moose at this season are chiefly re- lied upon, and in both of these the skill of the Indian is quite indispensable. The first is the still hunt, in which the track of the animal is followed over the most difficult ground in profound silence and with the greatest caution, till the game is seen be- fore he suspects the presence of his pursuer, and is then ap- proached with still greater labor and care, till within rifle range, or is discovered in his secluded lair, and is crept upon by the cautious hunter, till he can be reached by the leaden missile which is to crown the hopes of the hunter and reward him for all his pains. The other is the call, in which the Indian imitates the voice of the Moose either male or female in all its variations, and by this means induces the deluded animal to approach the concealed hunter, till he comes within shooting distance. The former must be pursued in the day-time, while the night or par- tial darkness are generally deemed necessary to insure success in the other. Long experience and a close habit of observation alone can qualify one to detect the foot-prints of the animal pur- sued, over the barren rocks or the yielding and elastic moss, where the unpracticed eye can detect no sign that the animal has ever been there; and an intimate knowledge of the habits of the animal is necessary to determine the course he has taken when the track is finally lost, and to determine the places where he would be most likely to stop to feed and rest, or the covert where he would be most likely to take up his abode dur- ing the conjugal relation. The call can only be successfully re- sorted to by those who after infinite practice are enabled at will to imitate to perfection all the notes uttered by the Moose of both sexes, and all ages, and under all circumstances, from the feeble 352 THE DEER OF AMERICA. call of the young calf, the anxious call of the solicitous mother, the amorous note of the female seeking a mate, or the masculine response of the male, to the fierce and defiant challenge of the bull when a rival is suspected to be near. Each of these, on oc- casion, must be perfectly expressed, or the counterfeit will be de- tected and the suspicious game will instantly disappear. I can best illustrate the first mode of hunting the Moose by an extract from that ardent and experienced sportsman and admir- able writer, Captain Campbell Hardy, in " Forest Life in Aca- die," p. 91. I have no fear that my extract will be too long, for it is instructive as well as interesting : — "Presently the canoe was signaled, and going down to the water's edge I embarked, and in a few minutes stood before Joe's castle. It was a substantial farm-house, evidently built by some settler who had a notion of making his fortune by the aid of a small stream, which flowed into the lake close bj', and over which stood a saw-mill. An old barn was attached, and from its rafters hung moose-hides of all ages and in all stages of decomposition ; horns, legs, and hoofs ; porcupines deprived of their quills, which are used for ornamental work by the women ; and in fact a very similar collection, only on a grander scale, to that which is often displayed on the outside of a gamekeeper's barn in England. " A rush of lean, hungry looking curs was made through the door as Joe opened it to welcome me. ' Walk in Capteu — ah, you brute of dog, Koogimook ! Mrs. Cope from home visiting some friends in Windsor. Perhaps you take some dinner along with me and Jim before we start up lake.' " ' All right, Joe ; I'll smoke a pipe till you and Jim are ready,' I replied, not much relishing the appearance of the parboiled moose-meat, which Jim was fishing out of the pot. ' No chance of calling to-night, I'm afraid, Joe ; we shall have a wet night.' " ' I never see such weather for time of year, Capten ; every- thing in woods so wet — can't hardly make fire ; but grand time for creeping, oh, grand! everything you see, so soft, don't make no noise. What sort of moccasin you got ? ' " ' A good pair of moose-shanks, you sold me last winter, Joe ; they are the best sort for keeping out the wet, and they are so thick and warm.' " The moose-shank moccasin is cut from the hind leg of the Moose ; it is in shape like an angle-boot, and is sewn up tightly at the toe, and with this exception being without seam, is nearly water tight. The interior of Cope's castle was not very sweet, THE CHASE. 353 nor were its contents arranged in a very orderly manner — this latter fact to be accounted for, perhaps by the absence of the lady. Portions of moose were strewn everywhere ; potatoes were heaped in various corners, and nothing seemed to have any cer- tain place allotted to it ; smoke-dried eels were suspended from the rafters in company with strings of moose-fat and dried cakes of concrete blueberries and apples. Joe had, however, some idea of the ornamental, for parts of the 'Illustrated News' and ' Punch ' divided the walls with a number of gaudy pictures of saints and martyrs. " The repast being over, the Indians strided out, replete, with lighted pipes, and paddles in hand, to the beach. Some fresh moose meat was placed in the canoe, with a basket of Joe's ' taters,' which Jim said, ' 't was hardly any use boiling ; they were so good, they fell to pieces.' A little waterproof canvas camp was spread over the rolls of blankets, guns, camp-kettles, and bags containing the grub, which was strewed at the bottom ; and, having seated myself beside them, the Indians stepped lightly into the canoe and pushed it off, when, propelled by the long sweeping strokes of their paddles, we glided rapidly up the lake. " Indian lake is a beautiful sheet of water, nearly ten miles in length, and, proportionately, very narrow — perhaps half a mile in its general breadth. Rolling hills, steep and covered with heavy fir and hemlock wood, bound, its western shore ; those on the opposite side showing a dreary, burnt country. The maple bushes skirting the water were tinged with their brightest au- tumnal glow ; and in the calm water in coves and nooks on the windward side of the lake, the reflections were very beautiful. I longed for a cessation of the rain, and a gleam of sunshine across the hill-tops, if only to enjoy the scenery as we passed. And cer- tainly a seat in a canoe is a very pleasant position from which to observe the beauties of lake and river scenery, the spectator being comfortably seated on a blanket, or bunch of elastic boughs in the bottom of the canoe, — legs stretched out in front, back well sup- ported by rolls of blankets, and elbows resting on the gunwale on either side. " 'Ah ! here is the half-way rock, what the old Indians call the Grandmother,' said Joe, steering the canoe so as to pass close alongside a line of rocks which stood out in fantastic outlines from the water close to the western shore of the lake. ' Here is the 23 354 THE DEER OF AMERICA. Grandmother, — we must give her somethhig, or we have no luck.' " To the rocks in question are attached a superstitious attribute of having the power of influencing the good or bad fortune of the hunter. Thej' are supposed to be the enchanted form of some genius of the forest ; and few Indians, on a hunting mission up the lake, care to pass them without first propitiating the spirit of the rocks, by depositing a small offering of a piece of money, to- bacco, or biscuit. " ' That will do, Capten ; anything a'most will do ; ' said Joe, as one cut off a small piece of tobacco, and another threw a small piece of biscuit or potato to the rock. ' Now you would n't b'lieve, Capten, that when you come back you find that all gone. I give you my word that 's true ; we always find what we leave gone.' Whereupon Joe commenced a series of illustrative yarns, showing the dangers of omitting to visit the ' Grandmother,' and how Indians who had passed her had shot themselves in the woods, or had broken their legs between rocks, or had violent pains attack them shortly after passing the rocks, and on return- ing and making the presents had immediately recovered. " ' It looks as if it were going to be calm to-night, Joe,' said I, as we neared the head of the lake. ' Which side are we to camp on ? Those long, mossy swamps which run back into the woods on the western side look likely resorts for Moose.' " ' No place handy for camp on that side," said Joe; ' grand place for Moose though. Guess if no luck to-morrow mornin' we cross there ; I got notion of trying this side first.' And so having beached the canoe, turned her over, and thrown her into the bushes secure from observation, we made up our bundles, apportioning the loads, and followed Joe into the forest, now darkened by the rapidly closing shades of evening. In a very short time the dripping branches discharging their heavy showers upon us as we brushed against them, and the saturated moss and rank fern made us most uncomfortably wet ; and as the difficul- ties of traveling increased as the daylight receded, and the tight, wet moccasin is not much guard to the feet coming in painful contact with unseen stump or rock, we were not sorry when the weary tramp up the long, wooded slope was ended, and a faint light through the trees in the front showed that we had arrived at the edge of the barrens. ' It 's no use trying to make call to-night, that sartin,' said Joe ; ' could n't see Moose if he come. Oh, dear me, I sorry for this weather. Come, Jem, we try make THE CHASE. 365 camp right away.' It was a cheerless prospect as we threw off our bundles on the wet ground ; it was quite dark, and, though nearly calm, the drizzling rain still fell and pattered in large drops, falling heavily from the tree-tops to the ground beneath. First we must get a good fire, — no easy thing to an un- practiced hand in the woods, saturated with a week's rain. However it can be done, so seek we for some old stump of rot- ten wood, easily knocked over and rent asunder, for we may, per- haps, find some dry stuff in the heart. Joe has found one, and with two or three efforts, over it falls with a heavy thud into the moss, and splits into a hundred fragments. The centre is dry, and we return to the spot fixed upon with as much as we can carry. The moss is scraped away, and a little carefully composed pile of the deadwood being raised, a match is applied and a cheerful tongue of flame shoots up and illuminates the dark woods, en- abling us to see our way with ease. Now is the anxious time on which depends the success of the fire, a hasty gathering of more dry wood is dexterously piled on, some dead hardwood trees are felled and split with the axe into convenient sticks, and in a few minutes we have a rousing fire which will maintain itself, and greedily consume anything that is heaped upon it, in spite of the adverse element. A few young saplings are then cut and placed slantingly, which rest in the forks of two upright supports ; the canvas is unrolled and stretched over the prim- itive frame and our camp has started into existence. The branches of the young balsam firs, which form its poles, are well shaken over the fire and disposed in layers beneath to form the bed ; blankets are unrolled and stretched over the boughs, and I find to my joy that the rain had not reached the change of clothes packed in my bundle. I presently recline at full length under the sheltering camp, in front of a roaring fire which is rapidly va- porizing the moisture contained in my recent garments, sus- pended from the top of the camp in front. Joe is still abroad, providing a further stock of firewood for the night, while his son is squatting over the fire with a well filled frying-pan, and its hissing sounds drown the pattering of the rain-drops. " After our comfortable meal, followed the fragrant weed, of course, and a discussion of what we should do on the morrow. The barrens we had come to were of great extent, and of a very bad nature for traveling, the ground being most intricately strewed with dead trees of the forest which once covered it ; and the briars and bushes overgrowing and concealing their sharp. 350 THE DEER OF AMERICA. broken limbs and rough granite rocks often cause a severe bruise or fall to the hunter. It was, as Joe said, a ' grand place ' for calling the Moose, as in some spots the country could be scanned for miles around, whilst the numerous small bushes and rock bowlders would afford a ready concealment from the quick sight of this animal. However, time would show. If calling could not be attempted next morning, it would most likely be suitable for creeping ; so, hoping for a calm morning and a clear sky, or, at all events for a cessation of the rain, we stretched ourselves for repose ; and the pattering drops and the crackling and snapping of the logs on the fire, and the hooting of the owls in the distant forest, became less and less heeded or heard, till sleep translated us to the land of dreams. " To our disgust, it still rained when we awoke next morning ; the wind was in the same direction, and the same gloomy sky promised no better things for iis that day. The old Indian, how- ever, drew on his mocasins, and started off to the barren by himself, to take a survey of the country whilst the breakfast was preparing, and I gloomily threw myself back on the blanket for another snooze. After an hour or so's absence, .Joe returned and sat down to his breakfast (we had finished our's and were smok- ing), looking very wet and excited. ' Two Moose pass round close to camp last night,' said he. ' I find their tracks on bar- ren. They gone down the little valley towards the lake, and I see their tracks again in the woods quite fresh. You get ready, Capten ; I have notion we see Moose to-day. I see some more tracks on the barren going southward ; however, we try the tracks near camp first, — may be we find them, if not started by the smell of the fii-e.' " We were soon at it ; and left our camp with hopeful hearts, and in Indian file, stepping lightly in each other's tracks over the elastic moss. Everything was in first-rate order for creeping on the Moose ; the fallen leaves did not rustle on the ground, and even dead sticks bent without snapping, and we progressed rap- idly and noiselessly as cats towards the lake. Presently we came on the tracks, here and there deeply impressed on a bare spot of soil, but on the moss hardly discernible, except to the Indian's keen vision. They were going down the valley ; a little brook coursed through it towards the lake, and from the mossy banks sprung graceful bushes of moose-wood and maple, on the young shoots 'of which the Moose had been feeding as they passed. The tracks showed that they were a young bull and a cow, those of THE CHASE. 357 the latter being much larger and more pointed. Presently we came to an opening in the forest, where the brook discharged itself into a large circular s\yamp, densely grown up with alder bushes and swamp maple, with a thick undergrowth of gigantic ferns. Joe whispered, as we stood on the brow of the hill over- looking it, ' May be they are in there lying down ; if not they are started ; ' and putting to his lips the conical bark trumpet which he carried, he gave a short, plaintive call — an imitation of a young bull approaching and wishing to join the others. No answer or sound of movement came from the swamp. ' Ah, I afraid so,' said Joe, as we passed around and examined the ground on the other side. ' I most all the time fear they started ; they smell our fire this morning, while Jem was making the breakfast.' Long striding tracks, deeply plowing up the moss, showed they had gone ofE in alarm, and at a swinging trot, their course being for the barrens above. It was useless to follow them, so we went off to another part of the barren in search of other tracks. The walking in the open barren was very fatiguing after the luxury of the mossy carpeting of the forest, slipping con- stantly on the wet, smooth rocks, or slimy surfaces of decayed trees ; forever climbing over masses of prostrate trunks, and for- cing our way through tangled brakes, and plunging into the ooz- ing moss on newly-inundated swamps, we spent a long morning without seeing Moose, though our spirits were prevented from flagging by constantly following fresh tracks. The Moose were exceedingly ' yary,' as Joe termed it, and we started two or three pairs without either hearing or seeing them, until some ex- clamation of disappointment from the Indian proclaimed the un- welcome fact. At length we reached the most elevated part of the barren. We could see the wooded hills of the opposite shore of the lake looming darkly through the mist, and here and there a portion of its dark waters. The country was very open ; nothing but moss and stunted huckleberry bushes, about a foot and a half in height, covered it, save here and there a clump of dwarf maples, with a few scarlet leaves still clinging to them. The forms of prostrate trunks, blackened by fire, lying across the bleached rocks often gave me a start, as, seen at a distance, through the dark, misty air, they resembled the forms of our long-sought game — particularly so, when surmounted by twisted roots up- heaved in their fall, which appeared to crown them with antlers. " ' Stop, Capten ! not a move ; ' suddenly whispered old Joe, who was crossing the barren a few yards to my left ; ' don't 358 THE BEER OF AMERICA. move one bit ! ' he half hissed and half said through his teeth. 'Down! sink, down — slow, like me!' and we all gradually subsided in the wet bushes. " I had not seen him ; I knew it was a Moose, though I dared not ask Joe ; but quietly awaited further directions. Presently, on Joe's invitation, I slowly dragged my body through the bushes to him. 'Now you see him, Capten; there — there! My sakes, what a bull ! What a pity we not a little nearer — such open countrj' ! ' " There he stood — a gigantic fellow — black as night, moving his head which was surmounted by massive white-looking horns, slowly from side to side, as he scanned the country around. He evidently had not seen us, and was not alarmed, so we all breathed freely. This success on our part was partly attributa- ble to the suddenness and caution with which we stopped and dropped, when the quick eye of the Indian detected him, and partly to the haziness of the atmosphere. His distance was about £ve hundred yards, and he was standing directly facing us, the wind blowing from him to us. After a little deliberation, Joe applied the call to his lips and gave out a most masterly imi- tation of the lowing of the cow-moose to allure him towards us. He heard it and moved his head rapidly as he scanned the hori- zon for a glimpse of the stranger. He did not answer, however ; and Joe said, as afterwards proved correct, that he must have a cow with him, somewhere close at hand. Presently, to our great satisfaction, he quietly lay down in the bushes. ' Now we have him,' thought I ; ' but how to approach him ? ' The Moose lay facing us, but partly concealed in bushes, and a long swampy gully, filled up with alders, crossed the country obliquely between us and the game. We have lots of time, for the Moose generally rests for a couple of hours at a time. Slowlj^ we worm along towards the edge of the alder swamp ; the bushes are provok- ingly short, but the mist, and the dull gray of our homespun dresses favor us. Gently lowering ourselves down into the swamp, we creep noiselessly through the dense bushes, their thick foliage closing over our heads. Now is an anxious moment — the slightest snap of a bough, the knocking of a gun-barrel against a stem, and the game is off. " ' Must go back,' whispered Joe close in my ear, ' can't get near enough this side — too open,' and the difficult task is again undertaken and performed without disturbing the Moose. What a relief on regaining our old ground, to see his great ears flap- THE CHASE. 359 ping backwards and forwards above the bushes. Another half hour passes in creeping like snakes through the wet bushes, which we can scarcely hope will conceal us much longer. It seems an age, and often, and anxiously, I look at the cap of my single-barrel rifle. I am ahead, and at length judging one hun- dred and twenty yards to be the distance, I can stand it no longer, but resolve to decide matters by a shot, and fire through an opening in the bushes of the swamp. Joe understands my glance, and placing the call to his lips, utters the challenge of the bull-moose. Slowly and majestically the great animal rises, directly facing me, and gazes upon me for a moment. A head- long stagger follows the report, and he wheels around behind a clump of bushes. " ' Bravo ! you hit him, you hit sure enough,' shouts Joe, level- ing and firing at the cow-moose, which had unknown to us been lying close beside the bull. ' Come along,' and we all plunge headlong into the swamp. Dreadful cramps attacked my legs, and almost prevented me from getting through, — the result of sudden violent motion, after the restrained movement, in the cold, wet moss, and huckleberry bushes. A few paces on the other side, and the great bull suddenly rose in front of us, and strided on into thick covert. Another shot and he sinks lifeless at our feet. The first ball had entered the very centre of his breast, and cut the lower portion of the heart. " Late that night our canoe glided through the dark waters of the lake towards the settlement. The massive head and antlers were with us. " ' Ah, Grandmother,' said Joe, as we passed the indistinct out- lines of the spirit rocks, ' you very good to us this time, anyhow ; very much we thank you. Grandmother ! ' " ' It 's a pity, Joe,' I observed, ' that we have not time to see whether the offerings of yesterday are gone or not ; but mind, you go up the lake again to-morrow to bring out the meat, and don't forget your Grandmother, for I really think she has been most kind to us.' " All the essential elements for still-hunting the Moose are man- ifested in this single narrative. A thorough knowledge of the habits of the animal must teach the hunter where to look for him at certain seasons of the year, or at particular times of the day, in fair or in stormy weather. The superior vision of man over that of the Moose, is more than compensated to the latter by the advantage of his position, being 360 THE DEER OF AMERICA. generally still himself, while the hunter is in motion, which helps out his defective sight, and enables him to identify the moving object. But few animals have a more correct vision than man. It enables him to identify objects at a great distance, without the aid of motion, but for successful Moose hunting — and the same remark is generally true of other game as well — the vision must be cultivated by long practice and careful study. This the Indianphas succeeded in doing to a greater extent than the cul- tivated man. The reason of this is obvious. The mind of the Indian is occupied with few and simple thoughts, and to these he can devote all the energies of whatever intellect he has, and hence we might expect great proficiency in the few pursuits to which he devotes a life-time. But few white men make a life- long business of hunting, and even these few have learned to think of more subjects than the Indian, and those subjects will intrude themselves, more or less, upon the cultivated mind, when not under the strong excitement arising from the immediate presence of game, and so he does not cultivate those senses, the highest order of which are indispensable to meet the sharpened instincts of the larger game whose constant apprehension makes, them ever on the alert. The improved vision of the Indian hunter, — and that is the occupation of nearly all Indians, from childhood to old age, — and that class of observations which enables him to draw correct conclusions from slight evidence which would escape the notice, or not arrest the attention, of the ordinary white man, has been noticed by all who have hunted much with the aborigines, and has been recorded by all who have written of their experience. The instance just narrated, when the Indian recognized the moose, when he was not moving, the instant he came within the line of vision, and before the moose observed the hunter, although in motion, is not singular, or even excep- tional. But the hunters knew they had keener senses to deal with than the dull eye of their game. His quick ear would detect the least noise, and his acute sense of smell would detect the least taint in the air, which would tell him of the presence of his enemies, when the game would be lost. How these embarrassments were over- come, is well explained, and they are always to be met with in still-hunting the deer, and so indeed in many other modes of his pursuit. While the still hunt may be followed at all seasons of the year, and is available for all the species of the deer, the call hunting is THE CHASE. 361 peculiar to the pursuit of the Moose, and is substantially con- fined to the amorous season, although the call is available, as we have seen, as auxiliary to other modes of hunting, and at other seasons. In general the deer is a very silent animal, and the use of the voice is almost entirely confined to the two largest species, the Moose and the wapiti. The Moose, most of all, expresses his passions or his sensibilities by uttering sounds expressive of dif- ferent passions and sensibilities, which are intelligible not only to his own kind, but are understood by the hunter as well. To im- itate these, sometimes an instrument, made of bark or a hollow horn, is used as an aid, while others succeed well by mufHing the mouth with the hands ; some possess this faculty of imitation in a much higher degree than others, and some even can never acquire it. During the rutting season, as has been said, the male Moose especially, impelled by the ardor of his passions, loses a part of that timidity and caution by which he is governed at other seasons. They become not only ardent, but courageous and combative. Until mated with a female, they crush through the forests and swamps in a half frenzied condition, seeking the desired object, and apparently aching for a fight. Now it is that the hunter seeks to take advantage of his temperament, by im- itating such calls of his kind as are most likely to allure him to love or to combat. In the call hunt the hunter has compar- atively little to fear from the sight of the Moose, but from the senses of smell and hearing he has everything to apprehend. The time chosen is either night or early morning. He must make his camp a sufficient distance from the ground selected for the hunt, to prevent its giving notice to the game of his presence in the neighborhood. There must be no wind to carry the odor of the hunter in any direction, else the sagacious and suspicious animal will be sure to take advantage of it, to approach the hunter from the leeward, and so detect the fraud at once, when the hunt is spoiled. A full moon is required to enable the hun- ter to see the game when it approaches, and to shoot with ac- curacy when in range. On a still night in September or October, with a good moon, after the antlers of the Moose have become nicely polished by being rubbed against the tree-stems, the experienced hunter re- pairs to the well-known resort of the Moose, selecting an elevated position in a country as open as may be found, and conceals him 362 THE DEER OF AMERICA. self behind some prostrate tree or great rock in a dark shadow, where he remains for a time in perfect quiet, listening for the well-known call of the cow or the bull Moose seeking for a mate. If heard, a fitting answer is imitated, and the game is allured within fatal range of the deadly rifle. No matter how perfect the imitation, a doubt seems to rest in the mind, especially of an old bull, and his approach is slow and cautious, frequently pass- ing quite around the place where the hunter is concealed, snuff- ing the air to catch the scent of an enemy, if he has been de- ceived, or of a mate, if his hopes are to be realized, and if the least breath of air is stirring to carry the scent, he is sure to catch it, and beats a retreat so quietly that not a twig snaps be- neath his feet, while before the cracking noise of his great antlers thrashing among the dry limbs, could be heard at a great distance. When suspicion is thus confirmed, the retreat of the Moose is so quiet, the hunter will strain his eyes to get a glimpse of the game where he last heard him, when he is rapidly re- treating a long distance away. If no suspicious scent or noise confirms the fears of the Moose, he gradually approaches the spot where the call was heard, which he readily locates with unerring certainty, till at last his great form looms up against the horizon, and then it is the fault of the hunter if Moose steaks are not over the camp-fire the next morning. The bull Moose is the principal object of pursuit in call hunt- ing, the cow being rarely enticed by the call. Although this is no doubt exciting sport at times, for it is diffi- cult to conceive of a feeling more intense than that inspired by the crashing tread of the advancing bull or the rolling of his great antlers among the dry limbs, as he thrashes them about in defiance of a supposed adversary, whose challenge he thinks he has heard, and with whom he is ambitious to do battle, yet this is not in general a successful mode of hunting the Moose, and failures are many, while successes are few. In Scandinavia, Mr. Lloyd tells us that the elk is successfully hunted with dogs held in leash. He cautiously follows in the track till the game is approached, when the dog is tied to a tree and the hunter stalks the quarry alone. This mode only meets with qualified success there. I have no information that this mode of hunting the Moose has ever been practiced here. THE CHASE. 363 THE WOODLAND CAEIBOU. The endowments of this animal render its pursuit a work of care and labor in those regions where it has been much hunted, and so the excitement of the chase is enhanced in a corresponding degree. Indeed none other of the deer family abhors civilization so much as this, and none so quickly desert a country upon its approach. While it occupies the range jointly with the moose, they are by no means social neighbors, and the Caribou hastens away, whenever it finds itself in close contact with its larger cousin. Except in unfrequented regions it is only found in timbered lands or in the bushy barrens, where it can find safe covert from its pursuers. If once alarmed by the hunter, it flees away in continued alarm, nor stops to rest or feed, till it has gone so great a distance that pursuit is quite out of the question. If the ex- perienced hunter wonnds the Caribou, he makes no attempt to, follow him, unless he believes him so disabled that he lacks the physical strength to escape to any great distance, for he knows he will never stop till compelled by absolute exhaustion, or a per- fectly safe distance has been attained. If, like the other deer, it does not readily recognize objects by sight alone, its senses of hearing and smell are acute and discrim- inating, and this must be ever borne in mind by the successful hunter. The habits of this deer vary very much in different localities, so they must be specially studied under varying circum- stances. The mode of pursuit which may be very successful, in remote seclusion, where it is rarely alarmed, might be quite fruitless where it is frequently pursued, and so has become ever watchful and vigilant. ^ Although the Caribou is nearly voiceless, yet it is not wholly so. During the love season the male expresses his desires, and invites a mate, by a short deep note, something approaching a bellow, but the Indians, of the present day at least, do not at- tempt to imitate it and so attempt to call the deer within range of the rifle, as we have seen they do the moose, though they claim that in former times this was successfully practiced by their an- cestors. Stalking or creeping is the only resource left to the sportsman in regions at all accessible to him, where the deer have been rendered cautious and wary by pursuit. In the interior of Newfoundland and the sterile regions of Labrador, where the country has not been harried by the white man, the case is quite 364 THE DEER OF AMERICA. different. I may here repeat, what I have intimated in another place, that the Indian, even since he has acquired the use of fire- arms, does not ordinarily drive game from a country, as the white settler or even the white hunter is quite likely to do. His quiet, stealthy mode of proceeding does not create that permanent im- pression of alarm, which results from the boisterous and careless proceedings too often indulged in or practiced by the white man. If he kills his game, it is done so quietly andr everything is so quiet afterwards, that those escaping are hardly able to appre- ciate what enemy has thinned their ranks. In what may be termed the alarmed districts, nothing short of the skill of the Indian can successfully pursue the Caribou, and so it is indispensable to the sportsman who would hunt him, to secure the services of a native hunter, whose life-long training alone could qualify him for the difficult task. The sport is de- ferred till early winter sets in, when the ground is covered with snow, which reveals the tracks of the deer, and finds more or less lodgment in the boughs and on the bark of the trees, making everything so nearly correspond with the color of the Caribou, that nothing short of the quick eye of the Indian can detect him, till he bounds away forever. Many expert Indians have for many years almost made it a profession to assist the sportsman in the pursuit of the moose and the Caribou, in those few districts where these deer are found and are still accessible to the sportsman. These Indians are not only skillful hunters, but are often amusing companions and use- ful camp servants: making camp, supplying the fires, cleaning the guns and cooking the meals, and bringing in the game. It is in the damp and fresh fallen snow that the Caribou is most successfully stalked. Then it is that the foot, clad in the moccasin, made from the skin of the hock of the moose, returns no sound to the hunter's step, and he is enabled to glide through the dark forest or the bleak barren as noiselessly as a cat upon a carpet. The Caribou, like the moose, frequently crops the parasitic mosses or the twigs of bushes while he is traveling, and by this means the experienced hunter is assisted in following his trail when his tracks are indistinct ; and from the freshness of these signs he judges how recently the animal has passed. In districts where the Caribou is not hunted except by the Indians, as in the interior of Newfoundland and Labrador, they are less suspicious, and less difficult to approach. There they THE CHASE. 365 Lave their regular trails and runways, which they pursue in their regular migrations, always crossing the streams at favorite fords. In these migrations the deer march in small bands, in single file, generally several feet apart, in well beaten paths. Their march is leisurely made, and rather slow, frequently picking the lichens as they pass, unless they observe something to excite their sus- picions. This is the time for the natives to make their harvest of meat. The greatest opportunity is at the ford of a broad stream. Dr. Richardson, in treating of the Woodland Caribou, says : " Mr. Hutchins mentions that he has seen eighty carcasses of this kind of deer brought into York Factory in one day, and many others were refused for the want of salt to preserve them. These were killed when in the act of crossing Hays River, and the na- tives continued to destroy them, for the sake of the skins, long after they had stored up more meat than they required. I have been informed by several of the residents of York Factory that the herds are sometimes so large as to require several hours to cross the river in a crowded phalanx." On the island of Newfoundland, this deer is equally migratory ; but necessarily its migrations are more limited territorially, ex- cept in the few instances when they cross the broad waters which separate the island from Labrador, in the winter on the ice ; but this rather facilitates than impedes this mode of capture by the natives, for it compels them to pursue their travels within more defined routes, and so they are the more easily waylaid and destroyed. In the interior of Labrador this deer, especially in the winter season, contributes largely to the sustenance of the natives, who still pursue it with the bow and arrow with some degree of suc- cess. Hind, standing on the divide between the waters of the Miosie and the Ashwanipi, listened to the story of the Indian, Michel, the theatre of which lay before them, and gives it thus : "He had been watching for some hours with his companion when they heard the clatter of hoofs over the rocks. Looking in a direction from which they least expected Caribou would come, they saw two Caribou, pursued by a small band of wolves, mak- ing directly for the spot where they were lying. They were not more than three hundred yards away, and coming with tre- mendous bounds, and fast increasing the distance between them- selves and the wolves, who had evidently surprised them only a short time before. Neither Michel nor his companion had fire- 366 THE DEER OF AMERICA. arms, but each was provided with his bow and arrows. The deer came on ; the Indians lay in the snow, ready to shoot. The unsuspecting animals darted past the hunters like the wind, but each received an arrow, and one dropped. Instantly taking a fresh arrow, they waited for the wolves. With a long and steady gallop, these ravenous creatures followed their prey, but when they came within ten yards of the Indians, the latter suddenly rose, each discharged an arrow at the amazed brutes, and suc- ceeded in transfixing one with a second arrow before it could get out of reach. Leaving the wolves, they hastened after the Caribou. There," said Louis (the interpreter), " quite close to that steep rock, the Caribou which Michel had shot was dead ; he had shot it in the eye, and it could not go far. Michel stopped to guard his Caribou, as the wolves were about ; one of his cousins went after the deer he had hit ; the other went back after the wolves which had been wounded. The wolf cousin had not gone far back when he heard a loud yelling and howling. He knew what the wolves were at : they had turned upon their wounded companion, and were quarreling over the meal. The Indian ran on and came quite close to the wolves, who made so much noise, and were so greedily devouring the first he had shot, that he approached quite close to them and shot another,- killing it at once. The Caribou cousin had to go a long distance before he got his deer," THE BAEEEN-GEOUND CAEIBOU. The Barren-ground Caribou is never an object of pursuit by the mere sportsman. His habitat is so remote from civilization, and so inaccessible, that he is sought only as a matter of business and not of pleasure. Only the Indian and the fur trader frequent his haunts, and they hunt him for his meat and his pelt. In its southern range, this deer finds forest lands which it in- habits during the winter season, making excursions into the mossy plains for food, but in its northern migration in the sum- mer, it goes beyond the forest regions, and dwells upon the bar- ren grounds exclusively, where it finds an abundance of lichens, which are its favorite food. Dr. Richardson says : ^ " The Chepewyans, the Copper Indians, the Dog-ribs and Hare Indians of Great Bear Lake, would be totally unable to inhabit their barren lands, were it not for the immense herds of this deer that exist there." ^ Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 244. THE CHASE. 367 On the next page, the same learned author says: " The Cari- bou travel in herds, varying from eight or ten to two or three hundred, and their daily excursions are generally towards the quarter from whence the wind blows. The Indians kill them with the bow and arrow or gun, take them in snares, or spear them in crossing rivers or lakes. The Esquimaux also take them in traps, ingeniously formed of ice or snow. Of all the deer of North America they are the most easy of approach, and are slaughtered in the greatest numbers. A single family of Indians will sometimes destroy two or three hundred in a few weeks, and in many cases they are killed for the sake of their tongues alone." The Esquimaux trap these deer, using the reindeer moss for bait. The trap is constructed of frozen snow or ice, inclosing a room of sufficient dimensions to hold several deer, and over this is laid a thin slab of ice, supported on wooden axles forward of the centre of gravity. The top of this is only accessible hy a way prepared for the purpose, and beyond the tempting moss is laid. In reaching it, the deer passes over the treacherous slab of ice, which is tilted by the weight of the deer, and he is precipitated into the room below, when the top, relieved of the weight, resumes its horizontal position, and is ready set for another victim. They are snared with thongs made of the skin of the animal, by placing the noose in positions where the head will pass through it, something in the manner described in snaring the moose, and if they do not find a tree convenient to which the line may be attached, they will hitch it to the middle of a loose pole, which soon becomes entangled in the bushes and among the rocks, so that the animal cannot escape to any great distance. Great numbers are captured by the Indians by driving them into pens or inclosures made of bushes, and placed in the course of some well beaten path, where a narrow gateway is left, from either side of which a diverging line of bushes or piles of stone, perhaps one hundred feet apart, are placed. These may extend a mile or two, and at their extremities be far apart. A watch i^ kept from some high point of observation, and when a herd of deer is observed approaching, the whole family, men, women, and children, quietly skulk around them, and drive them within the converging lines of objects which, in their stupidity and defective eyesight, they regard as impassable barriers, and so rush straight forward upon the path into the inclosure, in which is a labyrinth 368 THE DEER OF AMERICA. of ways made by rows of bushes, where the deer become fairly dazed, and are slaughtered with spears, and even clubs, the women and children in the meantime guarding the outside of the inclosure to prevent the escape of any. The number slaughtered in this way is very great, and furnishes the natives with provision in great abundance. We have many facts related of the Barren-ground Caribou which serve to inform us of the degree and accuracy of their powers of vision, and from these I think we may safely conclude that if their sense of sight is quick it is not reliable. Indeed we are led to the conclusion that they identify objects with less certainty than any' of the other deer. As we have just seen, rows of bushes or piles of stone placed at considerable distances apart serve to prevent them from passing the lines, and guide them to the pound into which they are driven. This shows that they do not identify the objects which guide them, nor do they" in their confusion even individualize those objects, but to tliem they are so confused that they appear to form continuous lines on either side, else they would pass out between them. This defect of vision is further illustrated by what Captain Franklin says of this deer, as quoted by Richardson : " The Reindeer has a quick eye, but the hunter, by keeping to the windward of them, and using a little caution, may approach very near, their apprehensions being much more easily aroused by the smell than the sight of any unusual object. Indeed, their curiosity often causes them to come close up to and wheel round the hunter, thus affording him a good opportunity of singling out the fattest of the herd ; and upon these occasions they become so confused by the shouts and gestures of their enemy that they run back- wards and forwards with great rapidity, but without the power of making their escape. The Copper Indians find by experience that a white dress attracts them most readily, and they often succeed in bringing them within shot by kneeling and vibrating the gun from side to side in imitation of the motion of the deer's horns, when he is in the act of rubbing his head against a stone. The Dog-rib Indians have a way of killing these ani- mals which, though simple, is very successful. It is thus de- scribed by Mr. Wentzell, who resided long amongst that people. The hunters go in pairs, the foremost man carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin of the head of a deer, and in the other a small bunch of twigs, against which he, from time to time, rubs the horns, imitating the gestures peculiar to the animal. THE CHASE. 369 His comrade follows, treading exactly in his footsteps and hold- ing the guns of both in a horizontal position, so that the muzzles project under the arms of him who carries the head. Both hunters have a fillet of white skin around their foreheads, and the foremost has a strip of the same around his waist. They approach the herd by degrees, raising their legs very slowly but setting them down somewhat suddenly, after the manner of a deer, and always taking care to lift right or left feet simultane- ously. If any of the herd leaves off feeding to gaze upon this extraordinary phenomenon it instantly stops, and the head begins to play its part by licking its shoulders and performing other necessary movements. In this way the hunters attain the very centre of the herd without exciting suspicionj and have leisure to single out the fattest. The hindmost man then pushes forward his comrade's gun, the head is dropped, and they both fire nearly at the same instant. The deer scamper off, the hunters trot after them. In a short time the poor animals halt to ascertain the cause of their terror ; their foes stop at the same moment, and, having loaded as they run, greet the gazers with a second fatal discharge. The consternation of the deer increase ; they run to and fro in the utmost confusion, and sometimes a great part of the herd is destroyed within the space of a few hundred yards." This long extract is fully justified by the amount of real infor- mation which it contains as to the habits of the Barren-ground Caribou. From the facts stated I arrived at a different conclu- sion from that stated by Captain J^'ranklin. He says the Rein- deer " has a quick eye ; " but his conduct shows that he has the dullest eye of the genus. Any of the others with whose habits we are well acquainted would have detected the counterfeit, es- pecially when one hunter was following the other, long before they reached the herd. The facts related demonstrate that the sense of smell is not so reliable as has been often stated, else the hunters, under no circumstances, could have reached the middle of the herd without creating alarm. As further illustrating the habits of this animal, I must quote from what Captain Lyon says of the mode of hunting it by the Esquimaux. " The Reindeer visits the Polar regions at the lat- ter end of May, or early part of June, and remains till Septem- ber. On his first arrival he is thin and his flesh is tasteless, but the short summer is sufficient to fatten him to two or three inches on the haunches. When feeding on the level ground an Esquimau makes no attempt to approach him, but should a few 24 370 THE DEER OF AMERICA. rocks be near, the wary hunter makes sure of his prey. Behind one of these he cautiously creeps and having laid himself very close, with his bow and arrow before him, imitates the bellow of the deer when calling each other ; sometimes for more complete deception the hunter wears his deer-skin coat and hood so drawn over his head, as to resemble in a great measure the unsuspecting animals he is enticing. Though the bellow proves considerable attraction, yet if a man has great patience he may do without it and may be equally certain that his prey will ultimately come to examine him ; the Reindeer being an inquisitive animal and at the same time so silly that if he sees any suspicious object which is not actually chasing him he will gradually and after many ca- perings and forming repeated circles approach nearer and nearer to it. The Esquimaux rarely shoot till the creature is within twelve paces, and 1 have been frequently told of their being killed at a much shorter distance. It is to be observed that the hunters never appear openly, but employ stratagem for their purpose ; thus by patience and ingenuity rendering their rudely formed bows, and still worse arrows, as effective as the rifles of the Eu- ropeans. Where two men hunt in company they sometimes pur- posely show themselves to the deer, one before the other. The deer follows and when the hunters arrive near a stone the fore- most drops behind it and prepares his bow, while his companion continues walking steadily forward. This latter the deer still follows unsuspectingly, who thus passes near the concealed man who takes deliberate aim andjtills the animal. When the deer assemble in herds there are particular passes which they invaria- bly take, and on being driven to them are killed by arrows by the men, while the women with shouts drive them to the water. Here they swim with the ease and activity of water-dogs, the people in hayaks chasing and easily spearing -them. The car- casses float and the hunter then presses forward and kills as many as he finds in his track. No springs or traps are used in the capture of these animals, as is practiced to the southward, in con- sequence of the total absence of standing wood." We nowhere else find in the same space so much valuable in- formation concerning this animal as in this extract. It tells us of the great curiosity of this deer, which so often leads it to destruction, in which it most resembles our antelope, but it conclusively proves as well that the vision is so defective that even with the aid of motion it cannot identify objects. The facts stated also show that this deer has not the acute sense of THE CHASE. 371 smell which is possessed by the other deer, or else when follow- ing up the track of the hunters their presence would have been "detected. Add to these infirmities their stupidity, and the fact that they are easily distracted so that they are incapable of es- cape even in the open plain, and we have the picture of an ani- mal which is very useful to the natives who have to depend on the rudest and most imperfect weapons to procure subsistence, but it should hardly be called game more than a flock of sheep. Another remarkable fact is mentioned in this extract, and that is that the deer floated after being killed. This I am very sure is quite exceptional. From my own experience, and from all the information I have been able to obtain from others, the other species of deer sink so soon as they are killed if in the water, and this is the case of those without antlers as well as bhose that have antlers. The fact stated is the more remarkable, because of the immense antlers which the males have, which as we have seen are much larger in proportion to their size than those of any other deer. " The carcasses float." No exception is made in the case of the bucks. The winter coats on the bodies of all deer consists of hollow cylinders which are, to be sure, very buoyant, but this coat must be enormous to sustain so great a weight in the water, but then undoubtedly' they require a very warm coat to protect them in that arctic region. From all the accounts we have of the mode of taking this lit- tle arctic Reindeer and its capabilities for self-protection, its pur- suit could never become an object of interest to the sportsman. Indeed, it is too stupid an annual for its capture to create an in- terest in any but a hungry man or a butcher. The pleasure of the sportsman in the chase is measured by the intelligence of the game and its capacity to elude pursuit, and in the labor and even the danger involved in the capture. The sportsman is better rewarded by the capture of a single woodland caribou, which has required all his skill with infinite pains and labor and exposure and privation, than to participate in the slaughter of a thousand of his stupid cousins of the north, which he would look upon with indifference rather than with pleasurable excitement. Among the former it is a contest with sharp wits where satisfaction is mingled with admiration for the object overcome. With the latter it must be — nothing ! The difference in the endowments for self preservation of these two species of deer, if not the most marked of those which declare them of different species, is still very remarkable and interesting. 372 THE DEER OF AMERICA. THE ELK. The American Elk, or Wapiti Deer, is noble game, and its pur- suit affords exciting sport to the hunter. His range is much more diversified than that of the moose, for he ranges the prai- ries and the plains, as well as the forests and the mountains. If he does not make his home on the barren plains of the far west, he ranges across them from one belt of timber to another, which are usually found along the streams which intersect them ; and before the white man had driven him from the fertile prairies of the Mississippi valley they were extensively grazed by the Elk. Almost the only mode of hunting the Elk, either by the Indian or the white man, is by stalking, or the still hunt, or sometimes by pursuit on horseback. Being social and gregarious in their habits, they are usually found in bands of greater or less numbers, although it is by no means uncommon to find solitary individuals scattered through the country, — usually young males. They are less suspicious than the moose, and their senses of smell and hear- ing are less acute, while few other animals excel them in these regards. But, as the hunters express it, they have less sense than the moose, or, indeed, most of the smaller deer, but they are by no means so simple as to destroy one's interest in them, or make their capture an easy matter. When sought for in prairie countries, the hunter expects to find them along the creek or river bottoms, where the grasses are more abundant and sweeter, and where they find arboreous food, which they crave to mix with the herbaceous. Here, too, they find the shade in which they delight. Thus occupying lower ground than the surrounding country, the hunter from elevated positions may overlook the valley, till the game is discovered either grazing in security below, or quietly ruminating in the shade of the trees. He has already studied the course of the wind, so as to be always to the leeward of the game. A careful study of the ground then ensues, and objects sought which may be made to cover the approach to within range. This is not so difficult as the approach to the moose, still it is indispensable to study the course of the wind, for if the wind wafts to him the least taint from his enemy, the Elk detects it in an instant, and is off. He is not sent away by the snapping of a twig, or the rustle of a leaf, if he cannot see the cause, still the hunter must observe great caution in his approach, alid especially not to al- low the game to get a glimpse of him when in motion. In stalk- THE CHASE. 373 ing the Elk, the hunter must be particularly cautious not to stumble upon a deer, while his attention is intently devoted to another ; many are lost in this way. A thick bunch of willows, or tall bottom grass, may be selected as the object to cover his approach. Such is a most likely place for an Elk to make his bed, and he may spring up before you not ten feet away, when a single bound may take him beyond view, even if you see him at all. If it is an old buck a loud whistle of alarm may be sounded, but without this, his flight will alarm the whole band, and your sport is probably up for the day. When started, the Elk does not, like the moose and the car- ibou, push right away, without a pause and swiftly ; but most likely after running a few hundred yards, the whole band will stop on some commanding elevation to see what is the matter. If he does not see his enemy, as he probably will not, still he is not quite happy, and will not delay till he has placed many miles between him and the hunter. If a lone animal is thus started from his bed of willows or high grass, before he sees the pursuer, he is very likely to stop for a moment or two after making a few leaps, and that momentary pause has been the opportunity for many a fatal shot, which has laid low the head which bore mag- nificent antlers. The Elk is often found among the foot hills of the mountains, and in very broken, rocky ground. This is the most killing ground, I mean for the hunter to pursue him in, for you must leave your horse below and clamber through on foot, when you are liable to come upon a lone Elk suddenly, and close before you, when a quick shot settles the matter ; or if you see one on considerably higher or lower ground, one hundred yards or more away, with a favorable wind, he may stand several shots, if youi bad shooting allows it, before he will take serious alarm and make off. It is not easy to determine the highest altitude of the range of the Elk, but it is probable that they go to the utmost of the tim- ber line. I have found their tracks more than ten thousand feet above the sea level, on the Sierra Madre Mountains. Whether those that frequent these high altitudes ever visit the plains, or abide permanently in the mountains, I have no means of deter- mining. When the severe winter sets in they descend into the basins and caiions, where the mountain streams have their sources, and where they find grass beneath the snow, and in these pockets in the mountains the hunter seeks them, keeping on the higher 374 THE DEER OF AMERICA. ground which surrounds them. Instances are related where bands of Elk have been thus observed from high, overlooking points, when a gale of wind was blowing, whence the hunter has shot down a considerable number before the balance would take the alarm. They would look upon the struggles' of the dying in amazement, but without suspecting it was the work of an enemy. There is no doubt that our Elk has less tenacity of life than any other American member of the family. I have inflicted a wound upon an Elk through the head, quite below the brain, and without cutting an artery, and without occasioning much hemorrhage, which a common deer would have carried fifty miles, and found the Elk dead in half an hour after, and within half a mile of the place where he was shot. My own observations have been confirmed by the testimony of old hunters of vastly more experience than I can claim, and if my recollection rightly serves me, the observations of Lewis and Clarke were to the same effect. I have seen a few accounts of their being pursued with grey- hounds on the western plains, by army officers stationed at fron- tier posts, but, from the accounts, I judge they are not as gamy as the common deer, — though they may equal in endurance the European stags, — and they undoubtedly lack the endurance of the moose or the caribou. When pursued on horseback the Elk makes for broken and rocky ground, if any be accessible, where the pursuit usually terminates, but if away on the plains, the chase is an exciting and an interesting one. The EII5; leads away in a rapid trot, which if not broken he holds for a long distaiice, but when forced from this into a run, if the animal be fat, he soon breaks down, but if lean he endures it well, and leads a fine chase before he is run into. None other of our deer fatten so kindly or get so fat as the Elk^ and possibly this may account for their lack of bottom in the chase. THE MULE DBEK. The pursuit of the Mule Deer is almost entirely confined to stalking or still hunting. They are found in the high mountains as well as in the valleys of the creeks and rivers in the plains. Where they are much pursued they are wary, and tax the skill of the hunter to approach them. They are fond of browsing on the young cottonwoods, which grow along the streams and in THE CHASE. 375 marshy places up the mountains. Here they are found at the first dawn of day, and before this time the hunter should secrete Mmself in a favorable location, which his experience and knowl- edge of the animal's habits will enable him to select, when he may hope to get a shot. They are not as gregarious as the Elk or the common deer, so he may expect to find but few together, if more than a single individual is met with in a place. They leave their favorite feeding grounds early in the morning, and if in hilly or mountainous regions, are sure to go to higher grounds to repose and ruminate. Here they are sought by the experi- enced hunter, who rarely sees them in their lairs but relies upon a snap shot when they jump up ; and, as they cannot be de- pended upon to stop after making a few leaps, he never waits for such an opportunity, but fires at the first sight as the best probable opportunity he will get. In remote mountain districts, where the Mule Deer are seldom hunted, they are not remarkably shy, and the careful stalker may meet one at any time of the day feeding on favorite grounds, which one familiar with their tastes and habits has no difliculty in recognizing. Lieutenant W. L. Carpenter, U. S. A., with whom I have had the pleasure of climbing the mountains in the pursuit of the deer, a sportsman of very large experience, especially in the mountain regions, writes me : — " I have never seen or heard of any other deer in the Rocky Mountain region than the elk (C. Canadensis), the black-tailed deer (C. maerotis'), and the white-tailed deer (C. leucurus). " I have found the black-tailed deer most abundant in North- ern Colorado, and the white-tailed deer on the Upper Mis- souri. Both species are found abundant on the treeless plains, and it is my opinion that a great many of them never see the mountains. The Republican, the South Platte, the North Platte, the White River, and the Upper Missouri, have both species in common, hundreds of miles from the Rocky Mountains. But the black-tailed deer always prefer the high bluffs and deep ravines near the rivers, while the white-tailed deer selects the thickest brush in the river bottoms that he can find, and will often allow you to walk within a few feet of him without moving ; he is sel- dom found far from cover. " I think that 10,500 feet may be safely set down as the limit of elevation for the white-tailed deer. I have never heard of one being seen anywhere near timber line. Several times this 376 THE DEER OF AMERICA. season, in climbing the mountains in North New Mexico, I have found white-tailed deer from the foot hills up the mountain side to about 10,000 feet, and then seen no more deer till an elevation of about 12,000 feet was reached, when the black-tailed deer ap- peared, and were often seen above timber, line. This was in the summer. On the approach of winter, both species range lower." Altogether the Mule Deer does not afford as varied and exciting sport as some of the other deer, still they are well worthy the pur- suit of the sportsman, who is inspired by that peculiar spirit which shrinks at no labor or fatigue, and finds a rich reward for all hardships and discomforts in the excitement of the chase, and the ecstasy which he experiences, when he sees such noble game answering discharges of his rifle by falling in his tracks if stand- ing, or by turning a high somersault and then tumbling to the ground with a fearful crash, if on the run. There is a thrill of joy at such a moment, only known to the sportsman, which per- meates every nerve of the human system, and which is in excite- ment far beyond the experiences of the sordid man, who spends his time and thoughts, and labors day and night, to win more gold or add a few more acres to his estate. I cannot explain it. It is not that brutal, sanguinary joy which gladdens at the pain it may inflict, or takes pleasure in the death of innocence ; for the true sportsman will never take life for the mere pleasure of killing, if he must leave his victim to rot upon the ground. He must associate his triumph with the consideration of utility to some one, no matter whom. It may as well be a total stranger or a band of savages in whom he feels no interest beyond that of common humanity. Immaterial to him who may be the benefic- iary, so that his capture may be utilized, he enjoys his success scarcely less when his own camp is well supplied than when the gnawings of hunger stimulate his effort. There are those no doubt who will slaughter for the mere love of slaying and leave a multitude of carcasses to fester on the plains ; but these are not sportsmen ; they are mere butchers, and their proper place is in the abattoir, where they may satiate their desire for blood without useless destruction and to a useful purpose. CEEVTJS COLXJMBIANTJS. Althougb the range of the Columbia Black-tailed Deer is lim- ited, its pursuit affords exciting sport. This deer avoids the open country more than any of the other species, excepting the THE CHASE. 377 moose and the woodland caribou. It is fond of the broken foot- hills and rocky mountain sides, as well as the deep seclusion of the dense forests of the lowlands. In California it is more fre- quently found in such localities as first described ; while in Oregon and Washington territory, it finds a welcome home in the deep shades of the vast forest regions which there abound, preferring localities not too remote from the broken rocky country, to which it can retreat in case of danger. In the southern part of their range, or as far south as San Francisco, along the coast, they fre- quently occupy the ground which they inhabit, to the almost en- tire exclusion of the other species of deer, while in the neighbor- hood of the Columbia River, they are associated with a variety of C. Virginianus, called the white-tailed or long-tailed deer, which in many localities outnumber them. Further north again, and on the islands of Puget's Sound they assert their numerical supe- riority. In the mountainous regions, the common mode of pursuing this animal is by the still-hunt or stalking. As the animal is an early riser, the still hunter must be astir betimes, and by the first dawn of the morning must be far beyond the influence of his camp upon ground previously selected, and there, in profound stillness, he must attentivel}'^ listen for the least sound which may advise him of the approach of the game ; and as the increased light enables him to survey a wider region from some command- ing position he may have taken, he scans the valley beneath and the mountain side, among the rocks and the bushy thickets. If at last no sound or sign from these is heard or seen, he cau- tiously moves along the ridge, if in the wet season, in search of a track, and when that is found, the course of the wind in refer- ence to the direction taken by the deer is first considered, and a direct pursuit or a detour is made, as his judgment may dictate. A rapid pursuit is not so important, as the extremest caution. The whole field of observation must be constantly and carefully scanned. Every step must be taken, as if in close proximity to the game. Not a stick must be broken under the feet, not a stone dislodged to go thrashing down the cliff, no bush shaken, which may give warning of his presence. The silent solitude must remain irnbroken, while the closest attention must be given, to catch even the faintest sound from any quarter. True, the game may be miles away, but then, again, the hunter may be close upon it. If he relaxes his caution, it may be at the critical moment when the prize is just within his grasp, and his only 378 THE DEER OF AMERICA. chance will be lost. This the experienced hunter will never do, for well he knows that care will in the end be rewarded with success. He only expects to find a solitary individual, for these deer are less gregarious than the others, and seldom wander far in company. He may, as he cautiously peeps over the ridge or from behind the rock, first sight the game within close range cropping the leaves from the shrubbery, or the grass from the valley, or the wild oats from the whitened field, or he may see him half a mile ,away, clambering up the opposite mountain side among the broken and scattered rocks. In the first case a single deliberate shot ends the chase ; in the other, success is scarcely less assured, for now that he sees the object of his pursuit, the hunter watches his movements, according to which he lays his plans and makes his approach with continued caution, which in the end will surely bring him within range of the buck, whose first notice of the presence of an enemy will be the fatal bullet crashing through his frame, when he will leap high and fall among the rocks, and in his dying struggles will roll far down into the valley below. Sometimes the pursuit is ended while it is yet early morning, and sometimes it lasts until the evening has come, when the hunter will make a fire beside a broken rock, cut out a steak and broil it, eat his supper, smoke his inevitable pipe, and then lay himself down beside his trophy and count the stars till he goes to sleep, all the time having his trusty rifle within his reach. Such was the history of the chase and capture of the last Black-tailed Deer which I helped to eat. He was a noble buck with magnificent twice bifurcated antlers, which no doubt still lie bleaching high up a canon of the Coast Range, about fifteen miles from the Geyser Springs of California. It took the captor half of the next day to bring out the meat to where he could reach it with a mule, when he became too fatigued to go back for the head and antlers, exceptional as they were in size. I do not be- lieve there is any more fatiguing sport than this ; yet for all that it is the more keenly relished, since sport without fatigue is often too cheap to have a relish, is too insipid to have a fiavor. Another favorite mode of chasing this deer is with hounds, much after the manner of chasing the Virginia deer, notably in Old Virginia, only it is generally done upon more level ground and in heavier forests, though sometimes among the foot-hills and even in the mountains. Even here the deer have their run- ways, which the sportsmen of the neighborhood soon learn, THE CHASE. 379 where they station themselves listening for the coming of the pack to indicate who is to be favored with the presence of the deer which may be looked for far in advance of the hounds. When the watchers are warned by the hounds that the game is afoot, in those regions where both abound, to determine whether it is a black-tailed or a white-tailed deer is very desir- able. If the former is approaching, probably but one has been started ; if the latter, there may be two or more. If the former, he may run in a large circle, and if in the lowland forest and hard pressed, will make for the mountains or rocky broken ground, where he can the more readily throw the dogs ofE the scent and elude pursuit, and only when all other resources fail him will he make for the water if lake or river be in reach ; if the latter, they may be expected to scatter if there be more than one, but all will probably be found making their way to a river or lake if one can be found within any reasonable distance. To determine the course of the deer, therefore, it is important to know which species has been started. Some hunters claim to be able to determine this fact at an early stage of the run, from the course the hounds may pursue and from other sagacious observations. From the dense covert in which these deer are found in the lowlands, when their pursuit is practicable by the hounds, the shot is usually at very close range, and must be made on the instant or the deer is again lost to view, hence a heavy fowling-piece with buck-shot is gener- ally preferred to the rifle. When they are hunted with hounds in the vicinity of large bodies of water, as the Columbia River, or on islands in the Sound, when hard pressed they take to the water and swim with scarcely less dexterity than the other species, crossing the river to escape their pursuers or making for another island, but if the distance be too great for them to undertake, they return to shore sooner than the common deer. When they take to the water they may be pursued in a boat if one be convenient, wibh which they may be readily overtaken, seized by the antlers and drowned, if the pursuer chooses, or is obliged to despatch them in that way. The still hunt is quite practicable in the forest of the lowlands, and throughout the country ; ten are killed in this way, where one is taken before the hounds. In the still hunt in the forests they are more generally jumped up, as the hunters express it, when they must be shot on the instant, or they will make good their escape. The hunter, therefore, must be ever on the alert, 380 THE DEER OF AMERICA. and has no business to be studying mathematics when he is still- hunting the Columbia Black-tailed Deer. THE COMMON DEBE. The Virginia Deer is not only the most abundant, and hence the most useful of all the American species, but its capture af- fords the most varied and the most exciting exercise to the sportsman. Its sight is fully equal if not superior to that of any of the other species, while its senses of hearing and smell are only inferior to those of the moose. It has an intelligence which enables it to resort to expedients to baffle its pursuer, and it pos- sesses a vitality which enables it to escape with wounds, which would prostrate some other species at once. If its actual endur- ance is inferior to some others, in fleetness it surpasses all of them. In all the territory now occupied by the United States and Northern Mexico at least, the Common Deer was a large resource for food to the aborigines, and hence the pursuit of them was a life study with the Indian. His principal weapon of destruction was the bow and arrow ; to make this effective, it was necessary to approach the game within very short range, and to accomplish this his ingenuity was taxed to the utmost. To be successful he must be familiar with the habits, the tastes, the instincts, and the capabilities of the animal. Taking advantage of the wind he waj'laid him on his known routes from one place to another, he secreted himself in trees near the salt licks, to which the deer paid nocturnal visits. At other times he would assume the skin with the head and antlers of the deer, and thus disguised, cau- tiously approach his game to within shooting distance. He would sometimes imitate the call of the young fawn, and thus allure the mother within his reach. In deep snows, he pursued the deer on snow-shoes, and soon exhausted the strength of the latter in the unequal chase, or followed him on the crust, through which the struggling animal would sink and lacerate his legs in his efforts to escape. The early settlers of this country, depended largely upon this deer for their provisions, and their mode of pursuing it was gen- erally the still-hunt. When the deer were abundant in all the forests the new comers had little trouble in secui-ing an abundant supply of venison, without even much effort or the loss of much time. In the winter, when they cut down trees to browse their THE CHASE. 381 cattle for the want of hay, it was not an uncommon thing in the early morning, to see several deer among their stock nipping off the buds from the lately fallen trees, and they rarely failed to stalk them successfully. The use of oxen was often resorted to for the accomplishment of this purpose. The oxen were yoked and hitched to a sled, with hay or straw, or other cover placed upon it, beneath which the farmers would be concealed, when, if the wind should favor they would make their way into the midst of the herd of browsing cattle, without alarming the deer ; and then if the farmer made a close shot the venison would soon hang in his larder. In those districts, where the first settlers had to clear off the heavy forest to make room for crops, they cut down an abun- dance of trees in order to feed their stoclv, during winter, which they cleared away in summer, and for the first few years these clearings would be close by the log cabin; and when I was a boy those who did this laborious work in the eastern States, were still in active and vigorous life. If they seemed to me then to be old men, as I estimate age now, they were scarcely past the prime of life. They never wearied of relating their early experiences of perhaps thirty years before, and surely I never wearied of listen- ing to them. Their hunting experiences, when deer, bear, and wild turkeys were so abundant as to be almost nuisances, fairly transported me to the wild woods and wild scenes, and the ex- citing chase which they so graphically described ; and I longed for the time to come, when I should be old enough to carry a rifle, and when I might wend my way to a new country such as they described, where I too might revel among game which had scarcely ever been alarmed by civilized man. It might not be difficult to remember enough of these narra- tives to fill a book. One shall suffice, as it illustrates a fact not generally recognized. A settler had made a deep excavation for a cellar, with a narrow sloping way leading to it. A deep, light snow had fallen, which the wind had blown into the excavation until it was even with the surrounding surface. The settler's cattle were browsing in sight of his door, when he saw among them a deer. He seized his rifle and made a circuit so as to approach the game behind a convenient shelter, which was just on the opposite side. By the time he reached the covert a shght breeze had sprung up and admonished the deer of his approach, when it started directly away from the danger which it snuffed, and made almost directly for the cabin, in the door of which the 382 THE DEER OF AMERICA. good housewife was anxiously watching the result. But when she saw the game gracefully bounding away, her hopes of veni- son nearly died out. Soon the deer passed close by the house, when in her excitement, she started after it as if she intended to run it down in a fair field. As she was a large, fat body, though ycung, healthy, and powerful, this to the average hunter might have seemed a desperate undertaking, and probably the act itself was solely one of impulse. However fortune kindly favored her, for in a few leaps, the deer plunged into the excavation just de- scribed, which had a vertical wall on the opposite side, which the deer failed to scale, and fell back. The excited woman compre- hended her chance at a glance, and rushed down the inclined way, seized the deer by the hind legs and held it, till the husband, hastened by her outcry, ran up and ended the scuffle with his bunting knife. This great feat made the woman a heroine, the cause of which she could long years after relate to her grand- children. Now this was looked upon by those old, experienced hunters as scarcely less than a miracle, for with the attributes they had always ascribed to the deer, it should have kicked her to death, or at least freed itself from her in an instant ; and so it would have done, had she seized but one of the hind legs, for with either hind foot loose it would have made bloody work with the adversary. My own experience shows that a man can readily hold a deer if he can seize both hind legs at once ; but if he grasps but one, he must let it go immediately, or he will be sure to suffer. When the hind legs are well stretched out, and not allowed to touch the ground, the animal is almost powerless. He is always urging himself forward as much as possible with his fore legs, and unless thp man holding him is so light that he can draw him up, he has no purchase with his hind legs, and cannot kick at all. It is the rapidity of the muscular action of the deer that makes it appear so strong. Its motions are so very quick, that it is the most unmanageable animal of its actual strength I have ever encountered, if it can but get a chance to act. I have seen two men try to force a pet yearling deer into a park from which it had escaped, by their carelessly leaving the gate open, when their clothes would fly off in shreds. Two strong men, with a strap around the deer's neck, can do it ; but they have no leisure to do anything else at the same time. Either one of them could have walked right away with it by the hind legs. I have found this the easiest way to handle the Common Deer when castrating. THE CHASE. 383 The opportunities first described afforded but one mode adopted by the early settlers for supplying their families with venison. In the winter time, they followed the deer through the snow, and seldom failed of success. They soon learned their habits, their favorite ranges and feeding grounds, and early learned where to look for them ; and could judge with great accuracy as to their destination, when they had followed a track but a short distance, and could so anticipate their arrival at a given point. In the fall of the year, when the deer are in the finest condi- tion, many made a business of hunting them, to lay in a store of provisions. The still-hunt was their favorite mode. They silently threaded their way through the quiet forest, frequently with a trusty dog, well trained, close behind them, seeking those places which their observations had taught them were most fre- quented by the deer, either for shelter or food. Oak or chestnut or beech groves always invited the deer, which sought in them their favorite food. But above all, hazel thickets, where they abound, are the favorite resort of the deer, not only for the nuts which are here found, but for the dense covert w-hich these thickets afford. The dog was seldom used, in those early times, until the deer had been wounded. The instant the gun was fired, the hunter, unless satisfied he had missed altogether, instantly started the dog, which followed by sight, and so soon as he came up with the wounded deer, brought him to bay, rarely attacking, if the deer stopped to fight him, but detained him with loud bay- ing till his master should come up and with another shot secure the prize. If the deer dropped to the first shot, the dog was slipped, for the chances were that the deer would soon get up and be o£E, and though mortally wounded, would give the htinter a long chase before he would finally capture him. But few animals will go so far and so fast, after receiving a mortal wound, as a Virginia deer ; although, if not pursued, he will go but little ways after he is out of sight, before he will lie down, and, if not disturbed, may never rise again. The best deer dog I have ever seen, for service in the still-hunt, was a cross between the greyhound and a bull-dog. He was fleet, sagacious, and very powerful. If his master did not soon arrive after he had brought the wounded deer to bay, he was sure to take him down and kill him, and then seek his master and lead him to the spot. This might be miles away, for if the wound is not very severe a strong deer will lead the best dog a long chase through the forest 884 THE DEER OF AMERICA. before he is overtaken. The best dog I ever owned for the still- hunt was a pointer. Though not so fleet or so powerful as the other, his fine nose and great sagacity compensated for all else. He would take the track of the deer and follow it by the scent just us fast or slow as directed, and as still as a cat. When he brought a wounded deer to bay, he would give tongue as furi- ously as one could desire, and hold him at bay with great per- tinacity : but of course he never seized the animal. Those early settlers often hunted the deer on horseback, and may have thought the game was more easily approached thus than on foot ; but my own experience has led me to a different conclusion. The deer when thus hunted soon learned that the mounted hunter was as dangerous as if on foot, while conceal- ment was almost impossible. On the prairies the horse was preferable, for concealment was difficult in either case. The mounted hunter in the event of success had the means of taking home his game when captured. If the deer was too large for him to lift to the horse's back, with a cord or the bough of a tree he might be attached to the horse's tail, and thus drawn home, and this was the usual practice of some who insisted that a horse could draw the largest deer in that way, without the least appearance of distress. When the pedestrian hunter killed his deer, he bled him and removed the viscera, and then hung him in a tree beyond the reach of the wolves, until he could come for him with the means to remove him. This might seem a difficult matter with a heavy deer, but it is not so. Of course a long cord should be carried in the pocket for the purpose. If the deer is too heavy to be sustained by a sapling which the hunter is able to bend down, he selects the largest he can manage near to a larger tree. The sapling is bent down and fastened in that position. To it, ten or twelve feet from the ground, the deer is attached by the heels. The sapling is then allowed to spring back with the cord at- tached near the top. This cord is then passed over a limb of the larger tree, when a moderate pull will assist the small tree to assume a vertical position and your deer is safely suspended. Of course you must go as far from under the limb as possible to save friction. In this way a man of moderate strength can hang the largest deer quite beyond danger. Let me say here to the honor of frontiersmen, as well as sports- men, that I never kneiw a deer thus left in the woods to be stolen. I really believe a man who would not hesitate to steal THE CHASE. 385 a horse would revolt at the thought of stealing the hunter's prize. These same frontiersmen in time became country gentlemen ■with improved farms and plantations. In the level or even hilly- country the deer mostly disappeared before the march of civil- ization, while in the mountainous regions they remained and still remain in considerable numbers. The whilom hunters for meat became sportsmen for the excitement of the chase, or where the old stock have passed away, the new generation allowed the long, faithful rifle which had done sanguinary service in the early set- tlement of the country, to repose on the rack, and pursued the deer more for the sport than the saddle ; more for the prize than the real profit. The silent and sagacious deer dog was no longer prized but gave place to the slow, and boisterous, and I may add stupid, hound. The sublime stillness of silent nature in the solitude of the dark forest is broken by the noisy bay of great packs of hounds, and the timid deer goes rushing through the woods frightened out of his native gracefulness. It is where the country is divided into ranges of wood-clad mountains, or high hills divided by valleys, down which rivers or creeks run, or in which lakelets are situated, that the proper theatre is found for running the deer with hounds. For this pur- pose packs of greater or less numbers are kept as in different countries of Europe. In such localities different runways are adopted by the deer, where they pass the watercourses in going from one elevation to another, or where they approach the little lake for bathing. Several sportsmen engage in the hunt. Early in a still, frosty morning they repair to the ground, generally on horseback, when one, and sometimes two, are stationed at each of the well-known runways, when their horses are concealed and the hunters secretly station themselves so as to command the crossing place and its approach. The hounds, in leash, are sent on to the mountains, and at a likely place they are slipped, and the hunt commences. So soon as the deer is started, the hounds give tongue. This is the signal anxiously listened for by the watchers at the several runways. Far away in the distant moun- tain, at first like a faint murmur, the sound is heard, uncertain whether it is the baying of the dogs or the whisper of an insect. The note soon becomes more distinct, and it is certain that the game is afoot. Anxiety now increases to determine who occu- pies the favored location. All along the line the attention of each watcher is strained to the utmost tension, to detect by the 25 386 THE DEER OF AMERICA. sound the course selected by the deer. Rifles are cocked, not a whisper is breathed, not a twig is broken, not a leaf is stirred. Every wandering thought is summoned back and absorbed in the excitement of the moment. The course of the hounds may be traced by their voices, each listener calculating the chances of their arriving at his stand. This is the moment when the inexperienced hunter is liable to make his greatest mistake. He forgets that the deer is not with the dogs, but may be a mile or more ahead of them. He listens to the dogs, and his eyes are in the direction whence the sound comes. If they seem to approach him, he forgets that the game may be already upon him. When he least expects it, there is a rushing noise, a crackling of the brush, and the deer emerges from the thicket, and with an elastic bound is already at the ford, and with a few lofty leaps is across the creek, and like a flash disappears in the dark covert beyond before the startled watcher, quaking from head to foot with the buck-fever, could more than bring his gun to his face and fire a random shot, when all is still again, save the tumultuous beating of his own heart. Less fortunate is the deer if he makes the runway occupied by the experienced sportsman. Only thinking of the danger behind him, and confident of his powers to far outstrip the baying pack, he bounds through the forest, proudly throwing aloft his great branching antlers, as if in derision ; bidding defiance to his pursuers, nor dreaming of danger before, he fearlessly rushes to the little opening on the bank of the stream, where he is accus- tomed to make the crossing, whether at his leisure or when pur- sued. This is just what the watcher is hoping and expecting. While he hears the distant baying of the pack, he is intently listening for the least noise in the near forest which could indi- cate the approach of the game. And now he hears the breaking of a dry limb, or the heavy tramp among the rustling leaves. If his pulse quickens a little, as it surely will, still no tremor or agitation is felt, but only tension and firmness are established in every nerve and in every muscle. The trusty rifle is quickly brought to the cheek, and the next instant, with a lofty bound, the magnificent but graceful form of the stately stag bursts from the border of the covert, his face in a horizontal line, his antlers thrown back upon his shoulders, so that every branch and vine must easily glance from the backward-pointing tines, his scut erect, and his bright eye glistening in the excitement of the moment, when instantly and while he is yet in mid-air, a sharp THE CHASE. 387 report is heard, when, to use a hunter's expression, " he lets go all holds," his hind feet, propelled by the great momentum, are thrown high in the air as if his very hoofs would be snapped off, and he falls " all in a heap,^^ or turns a complete somersault, and then rolls upon the ground pierced through the heart, or with both fore shoulders smashed ; or if the deer was descending in his leap, perhaps the shot was higher than was intended, and a stitch is dropped in the spinal column. In either case, the mon- arch of the forest is laid low, never to rise again. It is a glorious moment, and unsurpassed by human experience. I have been there, and know how it is myself, and so I speak from knowledge. Had the deer been standing, and with a full inspiration, he might have made a few bounds before he fell, but in the position de- scribed he could never rise again. When the fatal shot has been fired by the successful sports- man, he winds his horn as a signal of his triumph, and to call his companions at the other stations, and the congratulatory meeting takes place ov^r the prone form of the noble game. All admire his great antlers, which are lifted and dropped by each in turn. All admire his glossy coat which glistens in the bright sunshine like a silk robe, and all feel of the thick coat upon the ribs, and with watering mouths — remember they have been fasting since daylight — think longingly of the rich venison steaks in a chafing- dish for each, dusted with capsicum, seasoned with salt, laved in butter ; or, better still, lubricated with some slices of hard, fat pork, and flavored with a dash of good old port. Around the board so furnished, the sportsmen, after the fatigues of the day, with appetites sharpened by long abstinence as well, — selecting for the feast a saddle which has hung a few days to ripen and flavor, — while the venison slowly simmers in the rich compound, recount their experiences, their hazards, their exposures, their fatigues, and their triumphs. Then it is that the old settler, whose hair is white as snow, but who is yet hale and hearty, and is able to mount his horse and to ride him, too, with the best of them, is a most welcome companion. Seated at the head of the table, he is apt to monopolize the conversation, especially after a time, and may even become a little garrulous too, still all listen to him with anxious attention and deepest respect. He has been there from the beginning. He can tell when all was forest, when the first cabin was built, and who made the first clearing. He remembers when the whole country was full of game, when a slice of pork was a welcome change from venison, bear meat, or 388 THE DEER OF AMERICA. wild turkey. Then it was he learned to use the rifle, and com- menced the study of the habits of the various animals he hunted, as much for sustenance as for the sport. He learned all their hiding places and runways, and grew cunning in every mode of their pursuit, and has watched the changes which new condi- tions have introduced in the mode of hunting the different game. These were frequently men of marked intellect and culture, and their observations with tongue and pen have contributed mate- rially to the cause of science. The mode of hunting the deer upon the prairies, or rather in the prairie countries, is in many respects different from those practiced in mountainous and timbered countries. Where prairies predominate, as in Illinois, for instance, they are frequently dotted with isolated groves, and are intersected by skirts of timber along the borders of nearly all the water-courses which traverse the prai- ries, so soon as the streams become large enough to arrest a prairie fire. These groves are of various sizes, from a few acres to many miles, and the belts of timber along the streams vary from a few rods to miles in width. The real home of the deer is always in the timber, but he is fond of visiting the prairies, and indeed at favorable seasons spends much of his time there during the day at least, though as a general rule he repairs to the timber to pass the night, un- less indeed he is prowling about in the farmer's maize or wheat fields, which he very much affects. Very often the deer may be seen leaving the forests for the prairies in the gray of the morn- ing and returning again in the dusk of the evening. During the day, too, they are often seen passing from one forest to another, whether the intervening prairie be one mile or ten miles wide, though generally where there are long stretches, they will stop and rest on the way. They find much of their aliment in the prairie grasses, but they will have their arboreous food if any be accessible, and this they usually take in the timber in the night time. Indeed they spend most of the day in repose, well se- creted in the high slough-grass, or if the flies and mosquitoes are troublesome they resort to the high prairies where the pests are likely to be kept down by a smart breeze ; and there conceal themselves in a clump of tall grass which may afford a partial shade and there enjoy their quiet siesta. All these conditions and habits the experienced sportsman has well and carefully studied, and having observed the time of the day, the season of the year, the state of the weather, the topography of the coun- THE CHASE. 389 try, and the relative position of the timber and the prairie, and acting upon the combined suggestion of all these, he regulates his course. A very enjoyable mode of hunting the deer in the prairie country is for a party of four or six to make the hunt in com- pany. The time selected should be in the autumn, say October. The outfit should consist of two or three tents, -with the neces- sary utensils and provisions, a cook, a teamster, and one servant, besides a good pair of horses and large wagon to transport the impedimenta, a well trained strong horse, who should be a good goer, and a good deer-dog for each man. A double-barreled gun, — one barrel a rifle and the other for buckshot, — a few extra guns, ammunition, and a kit of fine tools, blankets, robes, etc. Having arrived on the ground, make your camp in some grove or belt of timber near a spring of water, where good grass may be found for the spanceled horses. The hunt commences with daylight, and may be around the borders of the timber, each one pursuing his own course, depend- ing on his judgment of the ground. The question is at what points the deer will be likely to make their exit into the prairie. Here the hunters place themselves sometimes on horseback and sometimes on foot. The sportsman being secreted in a com- manding position favored by the wind, by the time the first rays of light stream up from the east he listens with the deepest at- tention for the rustle of a leaf, the cracking of a twig or other slight noise, to indicate that the game is astir, and to determine the course it is pursuing, and if a change of position is necessary to intercept it. If he has not scented his enemy, the deer emerges from the thicket to the prairie in a leisurely walk, and becomes an easy mark for the rifle, if within a reasonable range. If there should be several deer, as is apt to be the case, and the distance not too great, the buckshot are first discharged and the rifle used at the longer range, or if they are in close range a deadly shot is made with the rifle and the other barrel used for the running shot. After the morning hunt the party assemble at camp, where the cook has prepared breakfast, which each one takes as he comes in, if all do not arrive together. The team is sent to bring in the game, and its return is expected by the time break- fast is over, and the pipes smoked. Preparations are now made for the day's hunt in the prairie. Each one takes in his pocket a lunch (they always use the abbreviated word) of bread or 390 THE DEER OF AMERICA. crackers and cold venison steak. The course for the day is agreed upon, and the wagon is taken along and the teamster is directed to keep upon the most elevated ground and to observe as well as he can the position of the several hunters, to listen for the reports of shots, and to look out for signals, which he is to answer, and to take the game on board. The horsemen separate, according to the nature of the ground, generally following the sloughs where the long grass is usually left standing, even when the high ground has been burned over. Here they usually expect to find the deer concealed in their lairs. The dog is taught to follow close to the heels of the horse, and on no account to leave that position till he is commanded to go, and if he is properly trained he will keep hisposition, no matter how many deer get up around him, or how many shots are fired. The horse is kept upon a slow walk through the tall grass, while the elevated position of the horseman enables him to command the entire view. The bridle-reins usually lay on the pommel of the saddle, across which, also, the rifle is carried, or in the angle of the left arm, usually cocked, but not always so. For myself, I never cock the gun till the game is up, whether it be bird or quadruped, always carrying it with my thumb on the hammer, at half-cock, and finger on the trigger, and if I have a double shot I lower the breech and cock the other lock, and I have al- ways found I could shoot right and left as quickly as those who carry their guns cocked. I have never hunted with but one man whose habit was the same, though I presume there are many others. It is all a matter of practice, and, if commenced young, the act becomes automatic, and is performed as unconsciously as I now form my letters, and more unerringly. It has always seemed to me the safest way, though others may think differ- ently. The deer usually lay till the horseman gets nearly upon them. If there be more than one, which is usually the case, they will be found lying within a few rods or even feet of each other, but never actually together. At the least, a considerable belt of the tall grass will be found separating their beds. Usually the near- est will be the first to rise, and the first bound he makes will arouse all the others. The second bound the deer jumps high, as if to survey the situation, and this is the best for the shot, for it will likely be within ten or twenty yards. When a double shot is offered the hunter it is frequently advisable to take the longest shot first, and his own practice will suggest whether to open with the ball or the buckshot. THE CHASE. 391 He must never expect the deer to stop after a few bounds, as he usually will when aroused by some object which he does not see. Here he sees you at a glance, and has no occasion to stop for a more minute survey. Indeed, he is likely to lie quiet for some time after he hears your approach, in the hope, probably, that you will pass him unperceived, and many deer are thus passed unnoticed in broad swales. If the dog is well up to his work he raay scent the deer as you pass him, and by a low whining noise he may arrest your attention, and by his actions indicate the direction of the game. After the shot is fired it is a question to be decided on the instant, whether to send off the dog or not. If the deer is badly wounded, and is not hotly pursued, he is sure to lie down soon, where he can conceal himself ; while if pressed by the dog or horse, he would run for miles. If the ground is such as to give you a good view, it may be best to let him go off quietly and lay himself down where you can readily find him, and settle matters by another shot, though you must not expect him to lay as close the second time as he did at the first. The wounded deer is not so readily brought to bay in the prairie by the dog, as he is in timber ; probably because he can see the mounted hunter at a greater distance ; so he will keep on until he is actu- ally in danger of being pulled down by the dog, before he will stop to fight him. When the game has been secured and bled, and the viscera re- moved, the hunter rides away to the high ground to signal the wagon to come and take it on board. To accomplish this he may have to go several miles, and unless he is well up to prairie craft, he may never be able to find his deer again. He must not fail to mark well the immediate surroundings, and all landmarks which he passes on the way. This the experienced hunter does almost involuntarily, and will return to the same place without an effort ; v/hile a stranger to the prairies must give his undivided attention to marking the localities, and as objects look very dif- ferently when passing one way from what they do when going the other, he must frequently look back and mark the general topog- raphy of the prairie as well as the minuter objects. By consult- ing his pocket compass he will find his task very much simplified, though the old hunter rarely has occasion to do this, unless a dense fog comes on, which sometimes happens late in the fall, when the compass is indispensable. I was once caught in such a fog without a compass. I went six miles with unerring certainty 392 THE DEER OF AMERICA. and struck an object within two miles of camp, which I knew was on the way, and then I spent two hours or more circling round on a section of land ; every half hour or so I would pass close by the object, with the same bearing and distance as the first time. Though I was perfectly familiar with every object on this portion of the prairie, nothing at this time looked natural ex- cept the stake stuck in a little mound or ant-hill, with that ever- lasting owl sitting upon it. That looked natural, and I knew I could leave it in the proper direction for camp, but before long the inevitable owl on the stake would again appear not a hun- dred feet away on my right. At length I detected the faint trail of the wagon, which I knew had gone out over the same ground that morning. I dismounted, carefully examined for prints of the horse's feet ; and when found, I discovered I was headed the same way they had gone. No one who has not tried it, can ap- preciate how difficult it is to make the inclination yield to the judgment, \felt that I was headed directly for camp. I knew, from the evidence before me, that I was faced the other way. Judgment prevailed, and I caref ullj^ followed the faint back trail, and in half an hour I reached camp just before dark. Then and not till then did familiar objects look natural. I had been lost. The mental faculties had become bewildered. Why people in this condition should incline to wander in a circle, it is not my place now to inquire, but such is frequently though probably not always the case. Nor does it seem to make much difference whether one is lost in the woods or on the prairie, the same sys- tem or the want of it in bewilderment seems to prevail. It comes on when one is not suspecting it, or looking out for it, else by watchfulness it might be guarded against. Frequently in this kind of prairie hunting, one hunter may drive the deer upon another. The instant, therefore, a shot is heard, the hunter should stop and remain perfectly still. If he does not move, the deer may come directly upon him if he is in their selected course, without recognizing him, and he may get a shot as it passes, or what is much more likely, he may trace its course at a distance, and watch it to a new bed. " I was returning towards camp one evening," said my friend, who was an expert at this mode of hunting the deer, and enjoyed it more than any other, " slowly walking my horse along a high ridge in the prairie, when I discovered a large buck on the op- posite ridge, half a mile away. He was evidently intently watch- ing me. He stood in a narrow belt of grass which had been left THE CHASE. 393 by the prairie fire. I did not halt, and gave no sign that I saw him, but slowly pursued my way, bearing, hojeever, to the left, so as to get more between the deer and the timber. The position of the deer commanded a view of the intervening valley. Pres- ently he laid down in a bunch of high grass. I continued to walk my horse slowly across the valley, gradually drawing more in the direction of the deer, he believing he was entirely con- cealed, and evidently thought he had not been discovered. I ap- proached the buck in a direction which would pass him not more than thirty yards distant. I kept whistling a low tune all the way, and assumed as careless an attitude and action as I could, appearing always to look in another direction, though now and then a quick glance showed the great antlers, which looked like a rocking chair, through the dried grass. I had for the last hun- dred yards or more been changing the position of my gun, some- times to my shoulder, sometimes to my left arm, and sometimes to the pommel of my saddle. When I got opposite him I could see the outline of his head laying flat on the ground, but the body was concealed. At the proper moment I checked my horse by a word, turned in the saddle, raised the gun and fired the rifle, before the deer had fully made up his mind that he was dis- covered, reserving the buckshot for a fairer mark in case the ball missed, and he should jump up. But he did not. He straightened himself out, and gave up the struggle with a few spasmodic kicks. That was the largest deer killed by the party during the hunt, and was a satisfactory conclusion of a fine day's, sport. An old buck is as cunning as a fox, but if you under- stand his ways, it is possible to circumvent him, and to do so is the very essence of sport. My companions were returning with the wagon half a mile away, and had been watching my move- ments for some time, but having seen no deer, supposed I had fired to bring them that way rather than go out of my way to join them, and so were reluctant to answer my signal to come. But they came at last, duly admired my trophy, assisted to put him on the wagon, when we all returned to camp together with as fine a load as I have ever seen brought in from the prairie in a single day. We were tired and hungry, no doubt, but all bore a hand to hang up the deer, and in a few minutes the trees around that camp were festooned in a way to make a hunter's heart rejoice. After bathing the face and hands in the cool spring water which burst from beneath the bank below, we gathered around our venison stew, which was our favorite dish in 394 THE DEER OF AMERICA. camp, and it seemed as if each one was determined to spoil more of it than another. At first ravenous, then moderate, then del- icate, picking over the savory mess to get a sweet morsel." The supper in camp is not a hasty meal, towards the end at least, and is usually accompanied by full accounts of the in- cidents of the day and of former sporting experiences, which are continued long after the pipes have been lighted and the weary hunter is stretched out upon his robe at the mouth of the tent, enjoying the soothing influence of the burned herb, without which camp life would lose half its charms. Perhaps the ijiost exhilarating mode of chasing the deer, is in the prairie with the greyhound. The broad, unbroken prairie presents a field for this sport unsurpassed. After the prairie fires have left most of the elevated portions of the great plain quite naked, and the dry seasons which generally prevail in the fall of the year leave the sloughs sufficiently hard for the free passage of the horse, while the tall grass which covers them and has been by moisture kept too green to feed the fire, which consumed that which had matured and withered on the dry upland, the proper conditions for this unparalleled sport exist. The dogs should be well trained to the sport, should be strong and enduring, and the more experience they have had the better. The horse as well as the dog soon learns to enter eagerly into the spirit and the excitement of the chase, and evidently enjoys it as much as his master. It takes a smart greyhound to come up to the average deer on the prairies, and only one that has learned his lesson severely can handle the deer after he is over- taken. Much of this he must learn by experience aided by his own sagacity. His master is rarely up at the first encounter, and the neophyte is sure to be cut by the feet and antlers of the deer, which the latter knows how to use with great dexterity. These wounds are the chastening lessons of the tyroy and if intel- ligent, he soon learns how to avoid them. But the experienced dog appreciates help, and will prolong the chase in order to secure it, if it is in prospect, either from the hunter or the rest of the pack, and will only close when he sees that he alone can over- take the quarry. The expert greyhound will not attempt to pull down his game by main force, but will take advantage of his momentum to throw him, when the fall must be severe ; and I have seen this done repeatedly before closing. In this way he greatly exhausts the deer by these repeated hard falls, and gives time for the slower dogs to come up, or his master to arrive to assist at the death. THE CHASE. 395 When the party is made up, the ground agreed upon, and the time fixed, the dogs should be well fed over night, but they must not be allowed to take food in the morning, which will require much time for digestion. An early start should be made and the party proceed to the field at a smart walk. The dogs should follow on foot for two or three miles, when they should be taken into a wagon, in which they should ride the balance of the way. The deer, it will be fpund, have long since left the timber to seek repose through the day in the high grass, and generally will be found in the sloughs, but in unburned prairie, sometimes in patches on the high ground. In the fall of the year, or in the winter, of course the deer can remain in the low ground undisturbed by the flies and mosquitoes. Arrived upon the ground, the hunters should arrange themselves abreast across the slough, so separated as to beat the whole. The progress is up the slough from the timber and towards the wide open prairie, so as to enable the flankers to cut oft' the deer from the timber and drive them into the field, for if they once reach the timber they are safe from the pursuit of the grey- hound. Being thus arranged, the hunters proceed up the slough through the high grass, the pack remaining near the centre of the line with their master. When a deer is started a shout is raised, and a rush is made in the direction of the game. This is in- stantly understood by the pack, and they spring forward in the direction thus indicated, jumping high to get a sight of the game. Their observation and progress are obstructed by the tall grass, so that by the time they reach the open ground the deer has at-, tained a considerable start. Now the real chase commences. The dogs and horses, stimulated by excitement and the loud shouts of the hunters, lay down to their work beautifully. The" deer shapes his course for the nearest point of timber. With long and rapid strides he skims the ground almost like a bird on the wing, never spending his strength by high bounds, but running low and rapidly he passes over the ground with great swiftness. But if the ground is well chosen there will be miles of naked prairie before him, and he soon feels the pressure of his great ex- ertions. He improves his chances by taking advantage of the inequality of the ground or tall grass, which may hide him from the sight of the dogs ; but the experienced hunter anticipates these movements and turns them to the disadvantage of the pursued by making a shorter cut when the deer makes a circuit, or gains upon him when he is obliged to slacken his pace in the denser 396 THE DEER OF AMERICA. covert. The elevated and dispersed positions of the horsemen enable them to always keep the chase in sight, and so the well trained hound is kept upon his course without loss, though the game may frequently be lost to view. It is a glorious sight when the horsemen and the hounds draw near the game, when evasion or concealment is no longer possible, and it becomes a mere question of muscle and endurance ; when the shouts of the riders stimulate both the horses and the hounds, and madden the frightened deer to the last possible effort of every sinew. The pack is strung out in a long and scattered line and so are the horse- men, each striving to the utmost to gain on the quarry, to keep the lead or to make up the lost distance. To be the foremost in such a chase, to keep even with the leading hound, and see that each stride lessens the intervening space between the pursuers and the pursued, is the culmination of excitement only known to the ardent sportsman. At each stride the leading hound draws nearer to the deer that is straining every muscle to maintain his distance, his wild eye protruding from its socket, his mouth wide open, and his tail occasionally lashed between his legs, as evidence that he is pressed beyond his strength, and is already distressed with his great efforts. At length as he sees his pursuers are gaining upon him, and the friendly thicket is yet far distant, fear comes and increases the embarrassment of fatigue, and he begins to jump wildly, which retards his flight. The horseman, meantime, urges bis steed to the utmost to keep up with the hound, which, how- ever, he fails to do ; but, as he sees the race is soon to terminate, lie strives to keep as near as possible. Now the leader of the pack is up with the game. He seizes him a little inside the thigh just as the hind feet leave the ground, and by a side jerk throws him heavily to the ground, letting go as the quarry falls. If an experienced dog, and sure of speedy support, he will wait till the deer gets up and resumes his flight, when he will again throw him in the same way, and so repeatedly till others of the pack come up, when all will close in upon the exhausted animal and usually make short work of it. But great vitality remains in an old buck. If an inexperienced dog exposes himself to the blow of a wounded buck he may be knocked ten feet away by either foot, or he may be impaled by a single dash of the sharp antlers. One severe lesson, aided by the example of the older dogs, is generally enough to make the beginner cautious even in the midst of the excitement. One or two dogs at the throat laying THE CHASE. 397 upon the shoulders and neck, and one or more behind can, in an incredibly short time, dispatch a large buck ; but before this is accomplished the huntsmen are generally up, when the hunting- knife puts an end to the struggle. The most successful dog I ever followed always threw his deer in the way described, and I never knew him once to fail ; but I have known other dogs to seize the deer in the lower flank and throw him by so doing. A short time gathers the horsemen around the prostrate buck, when each may have something to relate. A horse or two may have stumbled in the chase, whose riders have been dashed to the ground ; possibly a broken limb, but probably a few bruises would sum up the casualties ; and after the panting horses have taken breath, and the wounded have been cared for, another start is made and the scene again repeated. It often happens that several deer are started at the same time which run in different directions, whereupon the party and the pack divide, and may be seen scouring over the prairie, pur- suing the flying game, and at the conclusion of the run are sep- arated by many miles ; sometimes, indeed, so far that they are not again united the same day, unless at the dinner-table, when the incidents of the day are recounted, with such extravagant embellishments as may be necessary to enable each to outdo the others. Of all the modes of chasing the deer, its pursuit over the prai- rie with horse and hound is by far the most exciting and exhil- arating ; and, I may add, the most expensive, also, especially to the inexperienced rider ; for, if he returns with a sound horse and a sound body, he may consider himself fortunate. Practice is required in this as well as in other modes of pursuit, though in none can the neophyte in deer hunting take so active a part as in this. There is as great a difference in speed and endurance among deer as among horses. Some may be taken almost immediately, while others can only be captured by the bAt dogs and best horses, after a chase of many miles, when half the party may have been left quite out of sight. Take a long-legged, lean buck, in the prime of life, and he is a marvel of speed and endurance, and will satisfy the most ambitious sportsman before he is run into. Another mode of hunting the deer is called the Fire Runt. As I have never tried it, I am unable to describe it from my own 398 THE DEER OF AMERICA. observations. It is not much favored by sportsmen, but is rather considered as befitting what are called pot-hunters. The deer is largely a nocturnal animal, especially in the neighborhood of settlements, or in regions much hunted. For this mode of hunting a still, dark night is selected. The place chosen is v?here indications are abundant that the deer make their nocturnal visits, and where the covert is not so thick as to obstruct the artificial light too much. It may be in the farmers' grain fields, around salt licks, or along the margins of rivers. Generally, two go together in this sort of hunt. They are provided with an artificial light, usually made of pitch-pine knots, or the loose outside bark of the hickory tree, which contains an inflammable oil, and makes an admirable torch. This is so ar- ranged, and carried in such a position, that none of the rays of light fall upon the hunters, one of whom either precedes or fol- lows close behind the other, who carries the torch above his head or in front of him, higher than his head. A supply of material to renew the torch, is taken along and used as occasion requires. The hunters of course proceed with care and watchfulness and without noise. The deer sees the light slowly approaching and is rather fas- cinated than alarmed by it, and so he faces and starts at it in wonderment, when his eyes act as mirrors and reflect back the light, and appear to the hunters like two great stars, or as they sometimes express it, like two balls of fire set in nothing but darkness ; but neither of these expressions give a correct idea of the appearance of the light reflected by the eye. The radiation of the star is not seen, and the light is white instead of the red light of fire. Nothing else of the deer is seen. The advance should be made with extreme caution, for the least noise would be sni-e to scare away, the game. The shot, if low, should be fatal ; yet it is, I am told, very frequently not so. It has some- times happened when several deer have been thus found together that those not hit have seemed to be so fascinated with the light, that after a few l*3unds away they stopped to gaze upon it, and were prevented from going further. This sort of hunting can never be safely practiced in the neighborhood of settlements where cattle are running at large, or the hunter may have to pay for a colt or a cow. Nearly allied to this is the jack-hunting, or night hunting upon the water, of which I caanot plead entire innocence. When thick underbrush obscures the view, and not a breath of THE CHASE. 399 air stirs a leaf upon the trees, -when everything is dry, and every leaf will rustle, and every twig will snap under the lightest step, and day after day of diligent toil has failed of a single sight of game ; when the larder is low, and you are thrown back upon your reserved stores of pork or bacon, even if any of this be left, then you are ready to go jack-hunting. This is done upon a river or a lakelet. Along the margins of these in shallow waters grasses grow (vallisneria — deer grass, tape grass), of which the deer are very fond, for which they make nocturnal visits to favorite places. By previous examination these localities are easily discovered. This must be done by water, for the footsteps of men along the shore would be detected by the keen-scented animal, when he would leave in haste. A light boat or canoe, which must be paddled, not rowed, and an expert Indian at the paddle, is much to be desired. A light is carried upon the head. Various devices have been invented for this light, called jacks, but a watchman's lamp, attached to the front of a fire- man's leather hat, answers the purpose well. The light should be covered by a leather shield, or cap, which can be removed and replaced instantly and without the least noise. This must be so adjusted that the light falls upon the gun barrel for its whole length when the aim is being taken, and at all times when not covered throws a strong light ahead. A dark, still night is desir- able for this spoT't. The hunter is seated near the prow of the canoe, and the paddler in the stern. If in a river it should be where the cur- rent is gentle, and unless it is a large river the canoe is allowed to float down in mid-channel ; if in a lake the canoe is gently paddled along within from one to two hundred yards of the shore. Everything is profoundly still, both listening, to hear the deer come into the water at their favorite places. In a still night this may be detected by the quick ear of the Indian two or three hundred yards away. When the step of the deer in the water is heard the Indian quickl}' turns the canoe to the point whence the sound is heard, and the hunter removes the cap from his light, if it has been concealed, and instantly a strong column of light is thrown ahead till it is lost in the gloom beyond. Presently, two balls of light are seen. These are the eyes of the deer reflecting back the light of the lamp. The deer seems to take no notice of the rapidly approaching light, but the head is alternately elevated and depressed in the act of feeding, though I have been at a loss to conceive how we could get the 400 THE DEER OF AMERICA. full reflection from the eyes when the head was depressed to the very water, gathering the aquatic grass, but no matter what the position is, the reflection seems always equally bright as if look- ing directly towards you, and it is only by the movements that you know that they are not, and that the animal is feeding un- concernedly. When sufficiently near, delibei-ate aim should be taken, not between the eyes, but about four inches below them. Unless one is much accustomed to this kind of shooting, he is almost sure to over-shoot, and if the face of the deer is nearly horizontal, as it will be if he is looking at you, one inch too high will miss the deer, while if you shoot too low, a shot in the neck is as fatal as if in the head. The great excitement in this mode of hunting is, when the Indian is rapidly paddling you toward the splashing in the water, while the paddle dips so softly that it gives out no sound, and all you can hear of your own advance is a gentle murmur at the bow as it swiftly divides the waters. You are then earnestly looking into the still gloom, and when the orbs of light ahead are seen moving up and down and from side to side, while you are yet too far away to shoot, but with the gun to your face waiting for the Indian to say shoot, if you do not breathe rapidly, and your heart does not thump as if it would break your ribs, or appear to get into your throat and half choke you, then you have become a hardened hunter, and lost a part of that nervous sensibility, which affords such exquisite pleasure, if not too painful, for the line between these sensations I know to be very thin. With the light upon your head you cannot so well judge of distance as the Indian in the stern, so leave that to him. The last time I was in such a place, — and it is not many months since, — there broke out from the darkness four balls of light, both deer evidently feeding a little way apart. The Indian pulled first for the one on my right, and he dropped with a shot in the neck close to the head. Immediately I cocked the other lock for the one on the left, but when the gun came to the face I could see nothing for the smoke, but the Indian understood his work, and shot me out of the cloud of smoke in a fraction of a second, and before the big doe could turn half round to jump the bank, presenting the left hip, a shot in the loin, ranging far for- ward, dropped her on the spot, and it took two men to pull her out of the water and up that bank. They were a pretty pair as they lay side by side, and the loud whoop of the Indian showed that he thought it a well executed right and left. THE CHASE. 401 Sometimes the deer are disturbed by the night hunter, in deeper water where they can submerge themselves to escape the flies and mosquitoes, b,ut I have never seen it. Not the least exciting of the different modes of pursuing the deer is in the water with a light boat or canoe. A single inci- dent of this mode will serve for illustration. Opportunities for this sport occur when deer are driven either into a lake or river, or when they take to the water voluntarily, for the purpose of swimming across. "We had made camp near the foot of the lower of two small lakes on the head waters of Pike River in Wisconsin, which were connected by a narrow strait only navigable by canoes.^ Night hunting had developed the fact that the waters swarmed with black bass, which were continually breaking water with loud splashes, sometimes within two feet of the canoe, and frequently with such energy as to fairly startle those within it. They had been tried with fly and spoon, but were too far back in the wild country to have received the proper education to appreciate these allurements. One of my companions had induced his Indian to secure a good lot of dace from five to seven inches long, and in- vited me to join him to try and ascertain what kind of fish they were which made such an uproar during the whole night. So we started with a couple of eight-ounce trout rods. Stockton was in the bow of the canoe, while I occupied the middle, and his In- dian,' John Komoska, took the paddle. S. placed his rifle beside me, and said we might see a deer, when he should depend on me for the venison, although the camp was well supplied with fresh meat, but Lucius wanted a chowder. (His great weakness and his greatest strength is a chowder in camp.) We passed through the lower lake and half way through the upper lake without a bite, and came to a pause at the border of the lily pads (iV. advena), opposite the mouth of a little creek. John said we would get them there if anywhere. We exhausted all our skill, in all the ways we knew for luring bass, and only took a few small ones. At length in disgust I threw my hook, with a large bait upon it, into the water, and let it sink to the bottom, perhaps twelve feet, and there let it rest. After half a minute I attempted to move it, and then the sport commenced. I had hooked a five-pound bass. Fortunately, the first dash was into the lake and the reel sung a merry tune. John was well up to 1 A rare sensibility on my part prevents lakelets, since they were named for the me from giving the name of these twin writer ! 402 THE DEER OF AMERICA. the business and run the canoe into the lake, to keep him beyond the lily stems, for if he had got among them, my tackle would have been no more than a cob-web there. So soon as I got sea room I was sure of him, for the line was long though small. He bit as lazily as a sucker, but after that there was not a lazy muscle in him. He fought like a tiger, or rather like a salmon ; several times running away and then running in, repeatedly throwing himself out of water and trying to shake the hook from his mouth, but I managed not to give him an inch of slack. After a long and gallant struggle, he surrendered and rolled over on his side, when I floated him up to the bow of the canoe and Stockton lifted him in without a struggle. He had fought till he was completely exhausted. He was as black as night, excepting on the belly, which was partly gray. He was hump-shouldered and thick meated, and altogether the finest bass I had ever seen. It proved to be Micropterus ingreeans, Baird. The secret was now out. At almost every cast we took a fish, but never felt a bite. More than half of the time we were strug- gling with a big fish simultaneously. If it was exciting sport it was hard work. After we had each smashed a tip, we took time to look at the pile in the canoe, and concluded there was enough for that chowder. There were seventeen fish weighing seventy- five pounds. The largest was over six pounds. When we got to camp, Stockton laid him on a piece of paper, and cut out his profile. It is twenty inches and three lines long and six inches deep, and he was very thick. That was a nice chowder we had, and when the fish was fried with pork it made a hungry man amiable to eat it. We reeled in our lines, and John headed the canoe for camp. As we were passing through the strait, we heard a pack of wolves far away in the woods, but they seemed to be approach- ing, and when about in the middle of the lower lake nearly ahead of us we saw a large buck dash from the thicket into the shallow water, which was covered with lily-pads, and rush through it, slacking his speed, however, as the water deepened. When he reached the edge of the lily-pads, and the deep clear water was right before him, he stopped short, threw high his head, displaying to the best advantage his great branching ant- lers, and looked back and listened at the yelping of his pursuers. The Indian had stopped paddling, not a breath of air was stirring, and the water was as smooth as a mirror, while the bright de- clining sun cast the shade of the tall pines on shore far out upon THE CHASE. 403 the lake. " There," said Stockton, " is the first full realization I have ever seen of Landseer's glorious picture, ' The Monarch of the Glen.' " And so it was. The ideal of the great artist stood before us in all his magnificence, an actual verity. There stood the monarch of the forest in the border of the quiet lake, where the deep solitude is rarely broken by invading man, not dreaming there were enemies before him more dangerous than those behind, of escape from which he now felt assured. '■'■Hist" said the Indian, and the word fairly hissed between his teeth, " he come here straight," and at the same instant the deer plumped into the deep water and swam directly towards us. No one moved, but if truth must be told, there was hard breathing in that canoe as the deer rapidly approached us. When he was within fifty yards or less, the Indian rose to his feet, gave a loud whoop, and dashed his paddle into the water. At the same instant the deer turned for shore, and swam like a race-horse. That Indian was too economical to allow the deer to be killed without a race. The canoe fairly flew through the water, not directly after the deer, but around him, so as to cut off his retreat, and in a time too short to be reckoned in the excitement of the moment, the deer was again turned into the lake. The race was short. I had picked up the rifle the instant the Indian whooped, and held it ready. The deer swam high, the top of his hips and part of his neck always out of water ; still he constantly rose and settled in the water as he progressed. When within about twenty-five yards of the deer, the Indian turned the bow of the canoe out of the line of the chase, and said, " Shoot." I needed no second bidding. I aimed to strike him in the head, just back of the antlers, but as I pulled, the head settled, — we must always find an excuse for a bad miss, — and the ball passed between the antlers,' very close, of course, and struck the water just ahead of him. Thanks to the Springfield breech-loader, the reprieve was short. The next time I held for the neck, and the ball crashed through it, and came out just so as to miss the under jaw. The deer dove, as you have often seen a muskrat dive, throwing the hind parts considerably out of water, owing to the momentum. Still the Indian was well up to his work. With a great exertion he shot the canoe to the spot before the deer had sunk below the reach of his paddle, which he dipped beneath the antlers, and raised him up so I could reach them. The Indian was master of the situation, for so long as he followed the deer directly, my friend was always in the way, so I could not shoot, but if the 404 THE DBElt OF AMERICA. gun had been in unexperienced hands, I would not have been in Stockton's place, and I was impatient with the Indian that he would not give me a shot before we got so near, but I now saw if we had been ten yards farther off the carcass would have sunk out of reach. When the trophy was secured, the Indian gave a whoop, such as only an Indian can give, though I must confess there were some brave attempts to imitate it right then and there. At the death, we were scarcely a quarter of a mile from the landing, and in full hearing of the camp, and it was a sight worth seeing to see our two companions and the three Indians, all of whom were in camp when the shots were fired, come rush- ing down to the beach to see what it all meant. It was slow towing the deer through the lily pads, which extended out for fifty yards or more. Before we landed, the three Indians on shore rushed into the water, seized and dragged the deer to the bank. He must have been a great warrior, for all the points on his antlers were broken off. He was a big deer, and a beautiful sight as he lay there upon the green grass. But I have spoken of his remarkable size in another and more appropriate place. That was one of those fortunate but unexpected chances which, however, often occur, and which the discreet hunter will be always prepared for. It would be difficult to recall a finer after- noon's sport, or one with more satisfactory results. VENISON. Since the quality of the flesh depends very much upon the condition of the animal when killed, we might expect to find differences of opinion as to the quality of the venison obtained from the different species of deer, especially when these opinions are expressed by those whose opportunities to judge have not been very great. All agree that the flesh of the Moose possesses one excellence over all other venison, in this, that the external fat which is connected with the muscle is soft, and retains its fluidity at a low temperature, while the internal fat is very hard, like the fat of all other deer. It is coarse grained, no doubt, but for all that, it is sweet and juicy, even though not in the best of order. When from an old animal it is tough, but still it is always nour- ishing, and for that reason it is ever esteemed where food is a desideratum. Richardson says : " The flesh of the Moose is more relished by the Indians and residents in the fur countries than that of any other animal, and principally, I believe, on account of its soft fat." The flesh of the young fat moose is always highly prized, even by epicures, whether in the camp or in the dining-rOom. This, like all the other deer, is in the finest condi- tion at the commencement of the rutting season, when the flesh of even the old males is con"sidered rich and delicious. Captain Hardy had killed a very large male Moose which John, his In- dian, had called up. The next morning — " Come on, Capten," said John ; " come on and eat some Moose. This Moose be very tender ; little later in the fall not so good though ; soon get tough and black." The flesh of this animal has always been highly esteemed in countries where it is found in Northern Europe, and at times it has contributed largely to the supply of food. It is the only venison well adapted to preservation in the barrel, with pickle or brine. In this mode it is said to be as well preserved as beef, while the flesh of all the other deer must be preserved by a dry- ing process. Of the quality of the venison of the larger Reindeer there is a diversity of opinion ; but the weight of authority is in favor of 406 THE DEER OF AMERICA. its excellency when it is in good order in the proper season. Captain Hardy, speaking of the Woodland Caribou, says : " Ev- ery pound of meat pays for packing it out of the woods, being, in my opinion, far finer wild meat than any other venison I have tasted." On the other hand, Richardson says of this deer : " It is much larger than the Barren-ground Caribou ; has smaller horns, and is much inferior as an article of food." However, as this is but a comparison, and, as we shall presently see, he speaks in high terms of the flesh of the smaller species, the tastes of these two observers might not be irreconcilable, at last. After all, tastes so widely differ, especially as to game food, men may well disagree as to the quality of this meat. From other sources I learn that this venison is generally very highly esteemed. I have nowhere seen a comparison made between the flesh of our Caribou and that of the European Reindeer or between that of the tame and the wild Reindeer there. Richardson is almost our onlj' authority that speaks directly to the quality of the venison of the Barren-ground Caribou. " The flesh of the Caribou is very tender, and its flavor when in season is, in my opinion, superior to the finest English venison ; but when the animal is lean it is very insipid ; the difference being greater between well-fed and lean Caribou than any one can conceive who has not had an opportunity of judging. The lean meat fills the stomach, but never satisfies the appetite, and scarcely serves to recruit the strength when exhausted by labor. The flesh of the moose deer and buffalo, on the other hand, is tough when lean, but is never so utterly tasteless and devoid of nourishment as that of the Caribou in poor condition." All flesh from poor animals has a larger proportion of water, and is of poorer flavor, and is less nourishing than from fat animals, even the muscle ; but we may believe from this statement of so good an observer, and having such abundant opportunities to form an opinion, that the flesh of the Barren- ground Caribou is exceptional in this regard. Whether this is a constitutional pe- culiarity, or results from peculiarity of food, we may not safely say. Certain it is that, in the spring or summer time, when, if they are like all the other deer, they are in the poorest condition, they get no arboreous food, being dependent entirely on the lichens of the barren grounds, only finding tree food in their southern range in the fall and winter. But then that is their principal food at all times, and is generally accredited as being very nourishing. The other species, too, depend very largely on VENISON. 407 mosses for their sustenance, although they are rarely if ever en- tirely dependent upon them. That the flesh of this Caribou is exceptionally tender we must believe, for even in its' poorest con- dition nothing is said about its being tough, but only that it is tasteless or insipid, and not nourishing. I think we must admit that when it is in good condition it differs from, and is decidedly superior to all other venison. Of the venison of our Elk I should be able to speak under- standingly both of the wild animals and those raised in my grounds. The tallow of this deer, that is, the internal fat, is harder than that of any of the other deer, and almost as hard as beeswax or stearine. A^temperature of 90° Fahr. seems scarcely to soften the surface appreciably. The external fat is also harder than that of any other deer, though it is not so hard as the in- ternal fat. I think, however, after careful observation, that I may safely say that both the internal and external fat are harder in the wild Elk than in those always confined in inclosures. The greater activity and larger amount of exercise which the wild Elk gets may reasonably explain this difference. But in both the external fat is so hard as to make special precautions necessary to prepare this venison for the table in order to appre- ciate its full excellence. It must be served hot and kept hot, or else if there be much fat in it one will find a thin scale of the fat coating the roof of the mouth, which to most persons is very disagreeable, and for which but an indifferent compensation is found in the richest flavor and the most nutritive properties. Ordinarily it is not so tender as the venison of the smaller deer, but it is more nutritious than any other flesh with which I am acquainted. While I have no analysis with which to make the comparison, I have found, by actual use on many occasions and with many people, that about one half the amount of Elk meat will satisfy hunger and sustain the system which would be required of good beef. Another peculiarity is that this is the most difficult of all to pre- serve. The difficulty of curing Elk meat, is first mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, at their winter camp near the mouth of the Columbia River, about Christmas in 1805. They say, " Our Elk meat is spoiling in consequence of the warmth of the weather — though we have kept a constant smoke under it." Again, " The whole stock of meat being now completely spoiled our pounded fish became again our chief dependence." Elk was their only meat. I lost several lots of Elk meat, which I prepared 408 THE DEER OF AMERICA. for drying in the same way I would beef for that purpose. When cut into thinner pieces it is perfectly practicable to cure and dry it. The drying should be pretty rapid and thorough, when the prepared meat .will remain sweet for an indefinite time if kept dry. The marrow-bones of the Elk are very rich, and second only to those of the bison, and the same is true of the tongue. I have been unable to discover any appreciable difference in the quality of the venison of the Mule Deer, the Black-tailed Deer, and the Virginia Deer. Lewis and Clarke found the venison of the Columbia Black-tailed Deer dry and hard, and condemned it as the poorest of all ; but it is evident that the specimens they procured must have been in bad condition, for all since speak of it in favorable terms ; it commands as high a price in the markets as any other venison, and is as much approved by epicures. For my- self, I may say whenever I have had an opportunity of tasting it I have always had to resort to collateral evidence to determine wljat deer it was from. The venison of the Mule Deer I have, with few exceptions, only eaten in camp ; and it must be admitted that a hard day's tramp in the mountains makes any dish that is really good taste very good, and has a tendency to destroy that nice discrimination which would enable one to detect the flavor of the mule's hoof in the mushroom soup, when the vegetable had been crushed by the tread of that animal. Still I doubt if any one can distinguish the flesh of the Mule Deer from that of the common deer. Almost every one, in America at least, is familiar with the ven- ison of the Virginia Deer. While a few persons cannot eat it, and others dislike it, to say the least, a majority of mankind ad- mire it as food, and others esteem it above all other flesh. It is dark colored, is fine grained, and has a flavor peculiarly its own. When cooked wiihout accessories it is dryer than beef, but is tenderer, ceteris paribus. This venison is tender and nourish- ing, and of good flavor, even in the summer time when the ani- mal is always poor, though of course far inferior to the luscious feast afforded by the fat buck just at the commencement of the rut, when he fairly swells out with new made fat and flesh, which he has taken on in an incredibly short time. At this time I think the buck in the prime of life affords the best and most substantial venison, but at no time will the same quantity nourish the system as much as beef of the same quality, and so is vastly inferior in this respect to the venison of the Elk. VENISON. 409 It is not admired when corned like beef or the flesh of the Moose, but when dried it is extremely delicate and nice, and inexpressibly superior to dried beef. Indeed, it is only when you cut into the dried ham of the deer that you can fully appreciate its delicate, tender texture, and its rich flavor. It is very readily cured by drying. Take the venison ham, hang it up by the shank, even in the ordinary kitchen, divide the muscles just above the hock and insert a handful of dry salt, and it will then cure to absolute perfection. It keeps a long time without curing, before it becomes tainted, and, of course, improves in tenderness and flavor all the time. When the Indians jerk it they cut it into thin strips or sheeta, and hang it upon poles over a slow fire, not sufficiently strong to absolutely cook it, and yet it does become partially cooked, as well as smoked and dried, and, if thoroughly done, it becomes as dry as a chip, and will break short off, like a biscuit, unless the strip is pretty thick. Still, it retains its flavor and suste- nance, and makes an excellent soup, for which it should be pounded pretty fine. It is very good au naturel, and is a con- venient lunch to take into the woods. I can only conjecture as to the quality of the venison of the Acapulco Deer. To do this is unnecessary. THE SKINS. In texture, the skins of all the deer are alike. They consist of a mass of felted fibres, and are soft, spongy, and elastic, from which the epidermis is easily separated. These properties ad- mirably adapt them to supply the place of cloth in the clothing of the natives, and so constitute their principal material for dress. The principal articles used by the Indians in tanning these skins are brains and smoke, though the latter is frequently omitted, especially by the western tribes. In the cold countries the skins are usually tanned with the hair on, which is sometimes worn inside, and sometimes outside. In the temperate and tropical climates the hair is removed from the skin before it is tanned, unless it is'designed to be used as a robe. Whenever the skin is thick and heavy it is chipped away on the flesh side till it is so reduced as to make it even and pliable, and convenient for use. In this way they reject the weakest part of the skin. The skin of the Moose is thick and heavy, and always re- quires to be reduced to fit it for use as clothing, or even for robes. Although coarse-grained it is strong and serviceable. Here is what Richardson says, speaking of the Moose Deer : " Their skins, when properly dressed, make a soft, thick, pliable leather, excellently adapted for moccasins, or other articles of winter clothing. The Dog-ribs excel in the art of dressing the skins, which is done in the following manner : They are first scraped to an equal thickness throughout, and the hair taken off by a scraper made of the shin-bone of the deer, split longitu- dinally ; they are then repeatedly moistened and rubbed, after being smeared with the brains of the animal until they acquire a soft, spongy feel ; and, lastly, they are suspended over a fire, made of rotten wood, until they are well impregnated with the smoke. This last mentioned process imparts a peculiar odor to the leather, and has the effect of preventing it from becoming so hard, after being wet, as it would otherwise do." In fact, this describes the mode of tanning the skins of all the deer, by the different Indian tribes, who depend so largely upon them for their clothing, except that the hair is frequently allowed to re- THE SKINS. 411 main, especially on the skins of the reindeer. The same author says, when treating of the Barren-ground Caribou : " The hide dressed with the fur is, as has been already mentioned, excellent for winter clothing, and supplies the place of both blanket and feather-bed, to the inhabitants of the Arctic wilds. When sub- jected to the process described in the article on the Moose Deer it forms a soft and pliable leather, adapted for moccasins and summer clothing, or, when sixty or seventy skins are sewed to- gether, they make a tent sufKcient for the residence of a large family." " The undressed hide, after the hair is taken off, is cut into thongs of various thickness, which are twisted into deer- snares, bow-strings, net-lines, and, in fact, supply all the pur- poses of rope. The finer thongs are used in the manufacture of fishing-nets, or in making snow-shoes ; while the tendons of the dorsal muscles are split into fine and excellent sewing-thread." The portion of the skin of the Moose most prized for mocca- sins is that about the hock, which is peeled down without being cut open, is properly tanned with the hair on, and sewed up at the lower end, and is found to be well shaped by nature for the foot. The skin from the leg is firmer, and is more impervious to the water than that of the body, and the hair there is shorter, firmer, and more enduring than on other parts. The skin of the Wapiti Deer is less tenacious and less enduring than that of any other of the species. This fact was discovered by Lewis and Clarke, much to their cost. To cover their iron-framed boat above the falls of the Missouri, they selected Elk skins in preference to the skins of the buffalo, because they supposed they were " more strong and durable," but when it was too late they discovered their error, and the boat had to be abandoned. But my own experiments have been conclusive as to the com- parative worthlessness of the skin of the Elk. I have had them tanned by various processes and into various kinds of leather. I had a prime buck skin tanned into harness leather. It was soft and pliable, but had very little strength and endurance. Hitch- ing-straps made from it seemed very nice, but their tensile strength was very low, and they actually wore out bj'' a few weeks' use. Several skins from young Elk less than a year old, tanned into shoe leather, appear all that could be desired for shoes or soft boots, but they have so little strength that they can be torn in two by the hands like a piece of muslin, while I find all the skins of the other species of deer which I have in confine- ment, tanned in the same way, as strong as if tanned by the 412 THE DEER OF AMERICA. Indian process, and this, too, when the skins are from animals of all ages. Even the skins of those which died in the grounds, and very poor, although very thin and light, are as strong in pro- portion to their thickness as those from animals in prime con- dition, and prove wonderfully enduring when worn as slippers. The grain takes a gpod polish, though it is easily broken by rough usage. This shows that the mode of tanning did not de- stroy the tenacity or durability of the Elk skins. I have had many Elk skins tanned for robes, when the skin proves sufficiently enduring to wear out the hair, which is so fragile that it is soon worn off if used as cushions or beds, though the under-fur still remains. But the loss of the ends of the long hair gives it an unsightly appearance, and it becomes of little value. If used carefully as a lap robe or covering, it endures for a long time, and is very warm and comfortable, though if the animal was in full winter coat, the burden of hair is so heavy as to make its use rather inconvenient. What has been ali'eady said sufficiently explains the value and the uses of the skins of the common deer, the mule deer, and the Columbia deer. These are indistinguishable when tanned in any known mode. The skins of all our deer, then, when prop- erly tanned, make fine, soft, and enduring leather, except that of the Elk, which, though pliable, is comparatively of little value where strength and endurance are desirable. It would be inter- esting to know whether the skin of the red deer of Europe, an animal which possesses all the other peculiarities of Wapiti, re- sembles it in this particular also. It is no doubt remarkable that this exceptional quality of the Elk skin has been so rarely alluded to by those who have had extensive opportunities to observe it. It must be well known among the Indians and the fur traders, and yet I find them nowhere complaining that the Elk skin is valueless, though I nowhere learn that it is purchased by the traders like the skins of the other deer. Even Richardson, who so rarely overlooks anything of interest, makes no mention of it, though he says the skin of the antelope is considered nearly valueless by the Indians and traders, and yet a string cut from the skin of the Elk fifteen times as heavy as that cut from the antelope skin, is not as strong, and probably would not have a hundredth part the endurance when used as a string about a pack-saddle, for in- stance. APPENDIX. At the last moment, I am enabled to present in this form the follow- ing abstract of a paper by Mr. Robert Morrow, read before the Institute of Natural Science, Halifax, N. S., April 9, 1877, deeply regretting that I was not enabled to present its important facts in the text. Mr. Mor- row's examination and description of the cyst in the neck of the Caribou, first mentioned by Hutchins, and his comparison of it with that found by Ml-. Camper in the Reindeer, are of especial value. His observations are made with an intelligent care, and described with a particularity, which enable us to understand the subject almost as if we had made the examination ourselves. The examination of the interdigital glands or tubes between the toes of the Caribou and the Moose, by himself and Drs. Gilpin and Sommers, are of very great importance, and were evidently made with great care and intelligence. In the text I have suggested the probability that these members would be found wanting in the Moose, as I had found them wanting in the wapiti deer. This paper of Mr. Morrow settles that matter, and shows that they exist in the Moose to about the extent they are found in the Caribou. "With this new and important information before us, I may here repeat, that these glands, which are found in the feet of deer, and are wanting in the feet of all other ruminants, so far as I am informed, lack the constancy, and hence reliability of the other glandular members peculiar to the Cervidae. Mr. Morrow deserves our thanks for this valuable contribution to zoological science. He informs me that a similar abstract has been fur- nished to " Forest and Stream," in which it will shortly appear. Abstract of a Paper, read April 9, 1877, be/ore the Institute of Natural Science, Halifax, N. S., by R. Morrow, entitled " Notes on the Caribou." Mr. Morrow said, that the paper owed its origin to the following quotation from Sir John Richardson's " Fauna Boreali- Americana," pages 250 and 251. Mr. Hutchins " mentions that the buck (Caribou) has a peculiar bag or cist on the lower part of the neck, about the bigness of a crowa piece, and filled with fine flaxen hair, neatly curled round to the thickness of an inch. There is an opening through the skin, near the head, leading to the cist, but Mr. Hutchins does not offer a conjecture as to its uses in the economy of the ani- 414 APPENDIX. mal. Camper found a membranous cist on the Reindeer above tbe thyroid cartilage, and opening into the larynx, but I have met witli no account of a cist with a duct opening" externally like that described by Mr. Hutchins, and, unfortunately, I was not aware of his remarks until the means of ascertaining whether such a sac exists in the Barren-ground Caribou were beyond my reach." Mr. Morrow had several times looked for the cyst without success, but always forgot to do so for the sac; and, in order to obtain some information on both points, he went to the woods in December last, and succeeded in killing a large buck, the result of the examination of which, and dissection of others, male and female, made since, he would place before the Institute. But first, he thought it necessary to give Camper's description of the membranous sac from a Reindeer "four years old." Camper says,' " that as he did not know the Reindeer, and as the imperfect account which Valentyn gave of Stenons's dis- section in 1672, did not give him much light, he was forced to proceed with caution (date, June, 1771). He had often observed in the bucks, that when these animals swallowed, all the larynx rose and fell in a peculiar manner, and seemed to indicate something singular in this part. He then removed the skin of the neck with much care. The muscles being raised in the same way, he found a membranous sac, which had its origin between the os hyoides and the thyroid cartilage. He then discovered two muscles, which take their origin from the lower part of the os hyoides, exactly where the base of the os graniform and the cornua meet. These muscles were flat and thin at their beginning, but widened towards their junction with the sac, and certainly served to support it as well as to expel the air from it at the will of the animal. After he had opened the oesophagus from behind, he found under the base of the epiglottis a large orifice which admitted his finger very easily. This orifice spread, and formed a membranous canal, which passed between the two muscles already men- tioned, terminating in the membranous sac. Consequently the air driven from the lungs into the larynx fell into this sac, and necessarily caused a consid- erable swelling." Mr. Morrow said that when he shot the buck alluded to, he had not seen the account by Camper of the sac, and his specimen is not therefore so perfect as it might otherwise have been. Examining tlie outside of the tliroat of the animal the cyst of Mr. Hutchins, with " an opening through the skin," does not exist; but immediately under tlie skin, there was a roundish sub-triangular cyst or valve of cellular membrane of the " bigness of a crown piece," and on cutting through the cellular membrane, this " valve " is found to be a closed sac hav- ing a peculiar lining membrane, and closely packed with what may be called loose hairs of a flaxen color, in a considerable quantity of sebaceous matter ; at the same time, however, the lining membrane is covered by hairs of the same quality growing from and rather lightly attached to it. Camper in his account has described this valve as if it were the sac, and his drawing gives only the valve, which the larynx exhibited by Mr. Morrow plainly shows. The muscles which Camper describes as connecting the sac with the os hyoides, in Mr. Morrow's specimen do not exist, but their representatives are probably the muscles found in the larynx of the young buck by Dr. Sommers, as will later appear. The valve is connected with the omo-hyoid muscles as they pass to- 1 Camper, vol. i., chap, vi., page 338, Paris, 1803, where reference is made by let- ters to a plate, which cannot be done here. APPENDIX. 415 wards their insertion in the hyoid bone. The valve which Camper has evi- dently taken to be the sac lies outside of the mucous sac, but is incorporated with its anterior walls ; the inner wall of the true sac surrounds and is at- tached to the larynx extending longitudinally from the hyoid bone to the base of the thyroid cartilage, how much further it may extend cannot, from the im- perfect state of the specimen already mentioned, be determined, and at present the writer would only call it an organ of voice. The slit or orifice exists as Camper describes, but opens into the laryngeal sac, which lies above the valve that is next the larynx. The dimensions of this larynx are as follows: — Length of larynx from base of epiglottis to base of thyroid cartilage 0.5 inches. Circumference of larynx 0.11 inches. Inside diameter of larynx 0. 2 inches. The age of the reindeer which Camper dissected, he said was " four years," but " it had not attained its full growth." It is therefore possible that the sac was not fully developed. The muscles described by him taken in connection with those found in the young buck make this very probable. Mr. Morrow said that he had made every exertion to obtain a more perfect specimen of the larynx from an old buck, but without success. A small buck eight months old was sent to him and dissected by Dr. Sommers, Dr. Gilpin, and himself on the 27th January; and a female calf nine months old and an adult doe was put at his disposal by Mr. T. J. Egan, and dissected February 19. Mr. Morrow gave an account of the dissection of these three animals taken from the notes of Dr. Sommers; with reference to the larynx, very much abridged, it was as follows : In the young buck the organ existed as described in the adult animal, but in an immature state; it would probably be developed with the growth of the animal; the muscles were not found as in the adult animal, but arising apparently from the base of the epiglottis on either side, possibly continuous with the thyro-epiglottidean and aryteno-epiglottid- ean muscles, are two bands of muscular fibres passing over on either side of a body which probably would develop and form the valve in the adult, and are connected with it by fibrous adhesions; extending forwards they unite at its upper border, forming a single muscular band which becomes inserted into the upper and inner edge of the hyoid bone. These fibres have no analogues in man. Under the microscope the structure forming this body (which was about the size of a small horse-bean) was found to consist mostly of fatty tissue with a moderate proportion of granular cells. This body, which would form the valve, was absent in the doe and very rudimentary in the female fawn. Camper pointed out that the female reindeer is without this organ in the larynx, and also that it is not present in the male fallow deer, and from a specimen exhibited it was seen that it was not in the Virginia deer. Inside of the hock of the Caribou there is a patch of hair of a lighter color and somewhat longer than that which covers the skin in its immediate neigh- borhood, and the skin under this patch is slightly thicker than that immedi- ately around it. This spot is usually called a " gland." It is caused by an en- largement of the hair follicles, has a very strong smell, and in the Caribou is a scent " gland." The matter producing this scent is entirely diflFerent from that contained in the tubes; it appears to be a highly volatile oil, and resists salt for a long time after the rest of the skin has become saturated; when dry 416 APPENDIX. it collects on the outside of the skin in the form of very small scales, such as would be left by minute portions of varnish. Although Mr. Morrow did not see the animal use tliis so called " gland,'' yet his Indian hunter saw a doe Caribou use it in this way: when she had finished urinating (she squats in the act almost exactly like a sheep) she rubbed these glands together, leaving true scent behind her for a short distance. When creeping moose or Caribou, this scent floating in the air had often been with him a sub- ject of inquiry, and he had very little doubt but that this was at least one way in which these glands are used, and in confirmation he mentioned that the dogs, at one time openly used for hunting moose, did not often take the scent of that animal from the snow, but by standing upon their hind legs as if it had been rubbed from glands as described. The point was merely men- tioned in the hope that some gentleman present would be able to throw some light upon it, or keep it in mind when an opportunity offered for observation, confirmatory or otherwise. A little further down the leg, on the outside at the hair parting, he showed the " metatarsal gland," which had been looked for during a long period by Dr. Gilpin, Mr. T. J. Egan, and himself in answer to an inquiry from the Hon- orable Judge Caton. This was the first they had ever seen, and may probably be taken as a mark of adult age. It was afterwards found in the old doe, but not so perfectly marked, possibly because the doe was killed in February, the buck in December. Attention was also drawn to the tubes in the feet of the Caribou, which first attracted the notice of Dr. Gilpin from inquiries made by Judge Caton. Dr. Gilpin as well as others thought that they were only to be found in the hind feet, and the discovery of them in the fore feet of the Caribou is due entirely to Dr. Sommers. Camper says, speaking of these tubes: "In addition to the peculiarities of the reindeer of which I have just spoken, I have discovered besides something very singular in the hind feet of this animal, that is to say, a deep sheath be- tween the skin at the place where the dew-claws are united together, of the size of the barrel of a quill, running deeply as far as the point where the dew- claws are articulated with the bone of the metatarsus. These sheaths were filled internally with long hairs, and a yellow oleaginous matter proceeded from them, the odor of which was not very agreeable. I have not found these sheaths in the fore feet. It was not possible for me to discover the use of them, inasmuch as the heat of the summer obliged me to remove the flesh from the skeleton.'' And further on he says that in another reindeer he found no tube in the hind foot, but one very apparent in the fore foot, and again, he found tubes in the hind feet, but none in the fore feet. " So that I am not able to determine anything very exactly on this subject." In the skin of one of the hind legs of the old buck, the bones of which had been removed for the purpose, the tube was shown (the tube of the other foot had been used in experiments), and also a number of other specimens of tubes from the Caribou, one from the Virginia deer, and the hind foot of a moose, con- taining a tube. In the skin of the fore feet of the old buck Caribou, also exhib- ited, there was no appearance of the tubes, they had been absorbed. By many, Mr. Morrow said, these tubes were considered to be scent "glands."' Camper evidently did not think them so, although he mentions that the skin of the hind as well as the fore feet " were sprinkled with glandules which probably APPENDIX. 417 give out an oleaginous matter intended to protect the hoof against the snow." Prior to December last, Mr. Morrow said that he had paid very little attention to these tubes, and had the question been asked him. Were they scent glands ? the answer might have been affirmative, but after a careful examination of the animal while warm, he had come to the conclusion that these tubes are not "glands," properly so called. His first view, that the tubes were for the pur- pose of strengthening the bones of the feet of this animal in its spring, from further examination of a number of fresh tubes, and from the observations of Dr. Sommers, does not now appear to be tenable, and for his own part he had to adopt Camper's statement, and could not say what was their use; but they are not scent " glands," if they were it seemed scarcely probable that as the buck comes to maturity he would be deprived of the means of leaving scent from his fore feet at the time when he most required it, without taking into consideration the fact that the tube only exists in the fore feet of the male (up to an unknown age) or in the female in a rudimentary state. The waxy matter is contained in the tubes of the hind feet of the Caribou, and in all the tubes in the feet of the Virginia deer, owing to their shape, and the disagreeable smell ascribed to this matter is due to the quantity of it re- tained in a narrow compass. The tubes of the Caribou are rather wider in the mouth and of more equal diameter to their lower end than those of the Vir- ginia deer, which at their opening are somewhat narrow and widen towards their centre. The Moose, contrary to preconceived ideas (and this shows how little our animals are studied), also has tubes on its feet, fully developed in the hind, rudimentary io the fore feet, but of a very different shape from those of the Caribou and Virginia deer, being in the hind feet very wide at the mouth and gradually tapering towards their lower extremities; these from their shape can retain but little if any waxy matter. In general terms, the buck Caribou when young has the tubes in the fore feet in a rudimentary form, which instead of passing upward and backward to the skin close to the dew-claws, as in the developed tube of the hind feet, lie between and nearly parallel with the bones of the feet, and they are gradually absorbed until certainly in the adult male they entirely disappear ; the doe has them also perfectly developed in the hind and rudimentary in the fore feet, and it is a question which is yet to be decided whether these tubes ever entirely fade out of the feet of the doe. In the old doe the tubes al- though small are still plainly to be seen. A young moose, in possession of Mr. J. W. Stairs, has the tubes in all its feet, those in the hind feet are perfectly developed, and pass, as in the Caribou, between the phalanges; in the fore feet they are, as in the Caribou of the same age, only rudimentary, but at what time of life they disappear on this animal, or whether in male or fe- male, or both, cannot, owing to our prohibitory law, at present, be decided. Mr. Morrow said that it had been shown that the Caribou and moose have the tubes developed in the hind and rudimentary in the fore feet. An exam- ination of a Wapiti or Elk (Cervus Canadensis) skin with feet attached, in Mr. Egan's collection, presented the fact, confirmed by Judge Caton, that this animal has no tube in any foot, and that its feet are of a different shape from those of the Moose, Caribou, or Virginia deer, and that the phalanges are very much shorter in proportion to the size of the animal in the specimen referred to than in the Caribou or Virginia deer ; from the metacarpo-phalangeal artic- ulation to the point of the hoof they measure seven inches, while those of the 27 418 APPENDIX. young buck Caribou measured 7^ inches, of the old doe 7^ inches, and of the old buck Oinohes. The gentleman already referred to informed him that the Wapiti is a natural trotter, l " he, however, can and does run much faster than he can trot, but it is a labored effort and soon tires him out." " His run is an awkward, lumbering, rolling gallop. A few hundred yards of this gait tells. It is said that an elk will trot at an equal speed without stopping or even flag- ging, for twenty miles." The Virginia deer has a tube in each foot fully de- veloped, which led him to inquire the gait of this animal, his impression that it would prove to be a running deer being confirmed. The inference he wished to draw was this, that the number of tubes in the feet of the different species of deer will point out the gait of the animal, those which have a tube fully developed in each foot should be bounders or runners, while those want- ing the tubes, or having them partially developed in the fore and fully in the hind feet should be trotters. This point, as far as he was aware, had never been touched upon by any naturalist, and as it could not be pursued here, he mentioned it in the hope that it may be examined into by those who have access to a number of different species of deer. Returning to the tubes, Mr. Morrow stated that as his notes upon them were only those of a hunter and therefore of very little scientific value, he would use those of Dr. Sommers, as follows ; — In the observations here annexed I have endeavored to furnish an accurate description of the so-called " interdigital glands," which exist in the feet of the Caribou, by subjecting them to very careful anatomical and microscopical inspection. The conclusion at which I arrive relative to their structure and functions is that they are not glandular in the correct meaning of that term, an opinion which coincides with that which you previously expressed. This organ presents the appearance of a fleshy tube with thick walls and a rounded blind extremity like that of a small test tube flattened on its posterior or under side, convex on its upper or anterior side ; that from the young buck being about one and a half inches in length below, somewhat shorter above ; its circumference about three quarters of an inch; it tapers slightly towards its termination ; when viewed in position it bears a striking resemblance to the human "uvula." The surface exposed by dissection exhibits a structure consisting of rounded or slightly polygonal spaces resembling very large cells; these are convex, of a deep red color, and united by paler interspaces. The whole organ has the appearance of a body constituted of immense cells united by their thin cell walls ; this, however, is deceptive, these spaces are the rounded terminations or bases of the bulbs or follicles from which the hairs inside of the sac grow; the resemblance to cellular interspaces arises from the pressure of a very delicate layer of true skin upon which they rest, and which has been pushed into these interspaces by the growth of the hair follicles ; the same structure can be observed in otlier parts of the skin by dissecting off the true skin which is underneath from the epithelial layer which covers it and gives origin to the hairs ; but here the spaces observed are much smaller, since the hairs and their bulbs are more crowded, the space occupied by each bulb being less than in the cul-de-sac, or organ under notice. The organ in the fore, differs from that in the hind feet by being very shal- low, measuring not over a quarter of an inch in depth; when dissected from the surrounding tissue, it presents all the characteristics of the organ in the 1 Plains of the Great West, by Col. Dodge, pages 164 and 166. APPENDIX. 419 hind feet, yet it differs in position relative to the phalangeal bones, lying on the same plane as that of the anterior wall of the web, its own anterior wall being incorporated with the under surface of the skin and thereby shortened to about one quarter of an inch in length; the posterior wall, however, remains distinct and measures from the blind extremity to its termination somewhat over an inch. The microscopic examination of this organ proved it to be of epidermic origin. Sections' through the thickness of its walls showed an external layer of flattened prismoidal cells with small nuclei, and a, deeper or internal layer, in which the cells were more rounded and filled with protoplasm. This differ- ence in the uppermost and lowermost layer was brought out by the staining process, and it is in these only that we find the line of demarcation, the inter- vening layers merging gradually one into the other. Other structures observed were the hairs and hair follicles with their accompanying tissues and some fibres, representing no doubt the true skin, which is not developed in these organs to any considerable extent. The two layers of cells correspond to the same parts in man, namely, a horny layer external, but of course internal in the cul-de-sac, a mucous layer external wh§n the sac is dissected from its surroundings, the changed position of these layers is owing to the circumstance of the sac's being an invagination of the epidermic layer into the true skin. Regarding the functions of this structure various and contradictory opinions are expressed, that of its being glandular being most prevalent ; again it is said to have no existence in the wapiti and moose and in the fore feet of the adult Caribou. The fact of its existence in fore and hind feet of tlie Virginia deer being well understood, its presence in the animal is said to be for the purpose of leaving a trace or scent on the ground, and in this way serving the union of the sexes at certain seasons ; but if this is the.case, we may ask why should it not exist in the wapiti, and be fully developed in the Caribou and moose, since it must be obvious to us that the fulfillment of the conditions which obtain in the Virginia deer, are required also in the wapiti. More than this, we know that a true scent organ in the Caribou is situated on the inside of the heels or gambrils. On the occasion of my first dissection of this structure in the Caribou buck fawn, I expressed the opinion that it would be found also in the fore feet of the adult animal, though perhaps more rudimentary, and a subsequent exami- nation of an adult doe has fully confirmed this opinion, since I found this structure as well developed as in the young animal. I now feel more than ever convinced that it exists in all our deer tribe, not excluding the wapiti, although it may be larger in some than in others; an immature living moose, in possession of Mr. J. W. Stairs, being provided with it. The following summary of its histological relations will aid in arriving at correct conclusions relative to its importance : — 1st. It is a growth or offset from the epidermic layer of the skin invagi- nated between the phalangeal bones, containing the malpighian and horny layers of the epidermis, and carrying with it a very thin layer of the true skin. 2d. Hair follicles, and hairs grow from its internal walls, and emerge through its opening, these being also epidermic, or of epithelial origin. 3d. The absence of glandular tissue, excepting the sebaceous follicles which 420 APPENDIX. accompany the hair follicles or bulbs over the whole integument of the ani- mal, " this exception is made for obvious anatomical reasons," nevertheless the sebaceous follicles were not observed in the specimens examined with the microscope. , 4th. The examination of the matter filling the tubes in the Virginia deer, and present in much smaller proportion in the Caribou, showed it to consist in principal part of desquamated epidermic scales and oil globules. Microscopi- cally it resembled smegma from the skin of man, or perhaps closer still, the " vernix caseosa " from that of a recently delivered infant ; remembering that the epidermis in man and in all animals is a non-vascular tissue, that, unlike our other tissue, it is shelled off from the surface, we can readily account for these desquamated scales being retained here in a narrow pocket, from which they could not be easily discharged. Retrograde changes in these cells, secre- tions from sebaceous and sweat glands in adjacent parts, will account not only for the oily matter seen, the viscidity of the substance, but also for the odor which it possesses, the latter being no greater than that of the general integu- ment, and arises from the same cause, namely, the perspiration ; but in this respect they are not in any degree comparable with the glandular collection at the hocks before mentioned, which will retain the peculiar odor oi the animal for a long period after the removal of the skin. In presence of these facts we must conclude that this organ is only rudi- mentary, having no function which is obvious to us; it is not a secreting organ, since it lacks glandular tissue ; the opening in the dorsum instead of the sole of the foot, would point also in this way ; it does not serve to give strength or firmness to the foot, having none of the toughness and elasticity of the skin in other parts, without comparison with the tendons, etc., which are provided for this purpose (some instances of organs without uses were also given). From an individual point of view, taking in all the circumstances referred to, there appear to be only two ways of accounting for this structure ; it is either an aborted " ungual follicle," or otherwise it is a culde-sac, representing the suture formed by coalescence of the skin from side to side in the foetus. Its structure would convince one of the first conclusion if the animal had rudi- mentary toe bones in the same position, indicative of a three-toed ancestor ; but all observations relative to the morphology of the foot are opposed to this view, since the outer bones and their appendages are aborted in all animals of this kind; we are therefore compelled to adopt the other view, which can only be settled satisfactorily by examination of the part in the foetus. Nevertheless, knowing the difficulty of substantiating any theory connected with its supposed origin and use, still more the difficulty of ridding one's mind of a theory once entertained, my faith in either of these is held very loosely. The paper concluded with some general observations by Mr. Morrow, and a conversation in which a number of the members of the Institute took part. INDEX, A. Abnormal antlers on fern ale deer, 232, 233. tines on antlers, 183, 220, 221. growths of antlers, 182, 183, 187, et seq., 225, 226. Acapulco Deer, 113, 121,- 150, 168, 228, 241, 250, 262, 263, 271, 296, 308, 312, ct seq., 322, 338, 409. Alaska, Moose in, 72. Alee Alces, 69. Alces Americauus, 69. Alces malchis, 69. Albinos, 159, 160. Aliment of Antelope, 41. of the Cervidse, 73, 83,91, 208,318, et seq. American Antelope, 19, 21.' American Black Elk, 69. Amusements or play of the deer, 296, 297, 301. Antelope, 17-21. Antelope, American, 19, 21. Antilocapra Americana, 18,21. Antilocapra furcifer, 21. Antilope Americana, 21. Antilope anteflexa, 22. Antilope (Dicranoceros) palmata, 22. Antilope furcifer, 21. Antilope palmata, 21. Antlers, 17, 169, 193. Antlers of Acapulco Deer, 224, 228, et seq. Ceylon Deer, 229. Columbia Deer, 219, et seq. Common Deer, 103, 223. Barren-ground Caribou, 207, 208. European Elk, 194, 195, 198, 199. Moose, 193, et seq. Mule Deer, 219, etseq. Wapiti Peer, 211, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 199, et seq. Antlers of female Reindeer, 89, 202, 203, 204, 209. of other female deer, 232, 233. not as large in parks as wild, 218. carried to spring on Wapiti, 219. are true bone, 169, 172. their constituents, 169., system of nutrition and mode of growth, 170, et seq. are deciduous, 170. blood circulating in, 174. not strictly solid, 175. grooves in surface of, 176. why branched, 230. Arteries of periosteum, 172, 173. not compressed by burr, 176. B. Baird, Prof., communication to by Can- field, 26. first notices want of tarsal gland in Wapiti Deer, 256. Barren-ground Caribou, 104, et seq. antlers of, 204, et seq. a distinct species, 106, et seq. glands of, 254, 255, 365. hunting of, 366, et seq. venison of, 406. Bartlett, his paper on the Antelope, 26. Battle, mode of joining, 230. Beam of antler, 193. Bell of the Moose, 74. Bez-tine, 193. Bifurcated antlers alike on Mule Deer, and Black-tailed Deer, 219, 220. Black-tailed Columbia Deer, 96, 97, 98. Black-tailed Fallow Deer, 98. Black-tailed, or Mule Deer, 93. Black tuft on tail of Mule deer is persist- ent, 124. Blood-vessels, system of, in antlers, 171, et seq. 422 INDEX. Blue coat of deer, 12-t, 126. Breeding in domestication, 294, 295, 303, 307, et seq. Brow tine, 193, 200. Burr of antler, 171, 176, 193. small on Caribou aud Reindeer, 204. Burr does not compress blood-vessels, 176. C. Cabree, 22. Canfield, Dr., on the Antelope, 26, 36. Caribou, Barren-ground, 104, et seq. antlers of, 207, et seq. Woodland, 85, et seq. antlers of, 199, et seq. Caribou, ou, Asne sauvage, 86. Carre boeuf, or Caribou, 86. Castration, effect of on antlers, 184, et seq. Cerf mulct, 93. Cervidie of North America, 66. Cervus Acapulcensis, 113, 308. Occidentalis, 77. Alces, 66, 69. auritus, 93. bifurcatus, 22. Canadensis, 66, 77. (Cariacus) Lewisii, 97. (Cariacus) macrotis, 93. Cariacus punctulatus, 97. (Cariacus) Virginian us, 100. Columbianus, 66, 97. Dama Americana, 100. elaphus, 231, 233. elaphus Canadensis, 77. hamatus, 22. hestalis, 86. Leucurus, 100, 167. Lewisii, 97. lobatus, 69. maciotis, 93. var. Columbianus, 97. major, 77. Mexicanus, 67, 100, 308. occidentalis, 77. orignal, 69. Eichardsonii, 97. Btrongyloceros, 77. tarandus, 66-86. tarandus Arctica, 66. tarandus Caribou, 86. tai-andus Groenlandicus, 105. Cervus tarandus, var. u. Arctica, 105, Virginianus, 100. Wapiti, 77. Ceylon Deer, 115, 116, 158. Changes of coats of deer, 122, et seq. Acapulco Deer, 150. Barren-ground Caribou, 142. Columbia Deer, 124. Moose, 75, 123, 136. Mule Deer, 126. Virginia Deer, 124, 147, et seq. Wapiti Deer, 123, 125, 126, 144. Woodland Caribou, 141. Chase of Antelope, 56. Barren-ground Caribou, 366, et seq. Black-tailed Deer, 376, et seq. Common Deer, 379, et seq. Moose, 347, et seq. Mule Deer, 372, et seq. Wapiti Deer, 374, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 363, et seq. Chin, 133. Classification, 17. Coat of Acapulco Deer, 150, 151. Antelope, 38, 39. Barren-ground Caribou, 105, 126, 128, 130, 142, 143. Black-tailed Deer, 147, 148. Common Deer, 102, 148, et seq. Moose, 74, 136, et seq. Mule Deer, 95, 139, 146, 147. Wapiti Deer, 144, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 90, 126, 128, 130, 141. Coats shed twice a year, 122, 123, 140, et seq. Color of Acapulco Deer, 114, 150, 151, 157, 169. Antelope, 39. Barren-ground Caribou, 105, 144. Black-tailed Deer, 97, 147, 148, 159. Common Deer, 102, 103, 148, 149, 155, 156, 157. Moose, 75, 151. Mule Deer, 95, 96, 146, 147, 154. Wapiti Deer, 144, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 90, 141, 152. Columbia Black-tailed Deer, 97. Common Deer, 100. Comparisons, 117. Congeners. Moose and Elk, 322, etseq. Caribou and Reindeer, 325, et seq. Wapiti and Red Deer, 330, et seq. INDEX. 423 Congeners. Acapulco Deer and Ceylon Deer considered, 338, et seq. Courage, 115, 296, 307. Crown Antlers on Red Deer, 213. on Wapiti Deer, 214. Curiosity of Antelope, 57, 58. Barren-ground Caribou, 368, 370. Cyst in neck of Caribou, 413, et seq. D. Dag antlers, 193, 211, 219. Decidnous horns of Antelope, 18, 19, 25. antlers of the deer, 18, 170. Defective vision of all deer, 346. Depouille on Barren-ground Caribou, 205. Diseases, 298, 309, 341, et seq. Disposition. See Habit. Dicranoceros Americanus, 22. Discovery of Antelope, 24. Black-tailed Deer, 97. Dogs, 'antipathy _'of Wapiti for, 165, 166. Domestication of Acapulco Deer, 308, et seq. Antelope, 49. Barren-ground Caribou, 112. Black-tailed Deer, 299, et seq. Common Deer, 297, 302, et seq. Lapland Reindeer, 280, 281. Moose, 276, 277. Mule Deer, 296. Scandinavian Elk, 277. Wapiti Deer, 281, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 91, 280, 281. its effects on the reproductive powers, 304, et seq. Double palms on antlers, 194, 195. E. Ear of Acapulco Deer, 168, 169. Antelope, 25. Black-tailed Deer, 167. Common Deer, 168. Moose, 163. Mule Deer, 166. Wapiti Deer, 164. Woodland Caribou, 163. Elan, on orignat, 69. Elan, Stag, or Aptaptou,*69. Elaphus Canadensis, 77. Elk, American, 77. Scandinavian, 194, 195, 198, 199, 323, et seq. Emasculation, effect on antlers, 184, et seq. Eye of Acapulco Deer, 161. Eye of Antelope, 24. Barren-ground Caribou, 112. Black-tailed Deer, 98, 161. Common Deer, 161. Moose, 160. Mule Deer, 161. Wapiti Deer, 161. Eyesight of Antelope and Deer defective, 56, 57, 346, 360, 363, 368. F. Face, 129, ci seq. Fatten quickly, all deer, 205-208. ■ Fawn of Acapulco Deer, 157. Black-tailed Deer, 154. Ceylon Deer, 158. Common Deer. 155, 270, 298. Mule Deer, 154, 298. Fighting, mode of, by deer, 290, 306, ets.eq. Food of Antelope, 41. of the Cervidse, 73, 83, 91, 96, 208, 318, et seq. Foot of Acapulco Deer, 243. Antelope, 35. Barren-ground Caribou, 134, 135, 245, 246. Common Deer, 135, 247. Moose, 243. Wapiti Deer, 136, 243. Woodland Caribou, 90, 134, 244- 246. Form of Acapulco Deer, 121. Antelope, 22, 24. Barren-ground Caribou, 105, 121, 204. Black-tailed Deer, 97, 98, 119. Common Deer, 112, 120. Eastern Reindeer, 328, 329. Moose, 74, 117, 323, 324. Mule Deer, 95, 119. Scandinavian Elk, 117, 32.3, 324. Wapiti Deer, 81, 118. Woodland Caribou, 118, 204, 328. Fossil antlers, 213, 227. skeleton of deer, 227. Fur of antelope and deer, 38, 141, 148. G. Gait of Acapulco Deer, 271. Antelope, 57, 62. Black-tailed Deer, 99, 272. Ceylon Deer, 271. Common Deer, 155, 270. Moose, 273. 424 INDEX. Gait of Mule Deer, 95, 272. Wapiti Deer, 274, 275. Woodland Caribou, 273. Genitals of Antelope, 37. Moose, 269. Scandinavian Elk, 269. Wapiti Deer, 269. Woodland Caribou, 269. of the other deer, 269, 270. Glands, 247, et seq. Glands of Acapulco Deer, 113, 262, 263. Antelope, 36, 37. Barren-ground Caribou, 254, 412, et seq. Black-tailed Deer, 97, 258,259,261, 264. Ceylon Deer, 262. Common Deer, 259, et seq., 263. Moose, 250, 252, 257. Mule Deer, 257, et seq. Scandinavian Elk, 251. Lapland Reindeer, 253, 254, 257. Wapiti Deer, 254, 255, 256. Woodland Caribou, 253, 254, 256, 257. Groupings, 17, et seq, 269. Habitat of Acapulco Deer, 115. Antelope, 23. Barren-ground Caribou, 101. Black-tailed Deer, 98. Common Deer, 101. Moose, 71. Mule Deer, 94. Wapiti Deer, 78. Woodland Caribou, 87. Habits of Acapulco Deer, 115, 307, 308. Antelope, 43, et seq. Barren-ground Caribou, 108, et seq. Black-tailed Deer, 299, et seq. Common Deer, 302, et seq. Moose, 75, 276, et seq. Mule Deer, 296, et seq. Scandinavian Elk, 277, 278. Wapiti Deer, 83, 281, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 108, 280, 281. Hairs of Antelope, 38. Barren-ground Caribou, 142. Black-tailed Deer, 148. Common Deer, 149. Moose, 124, 128, 129. Mule Deer, 236. Wapiti Deer, 126, 128. Hairs of Woodland Caribou, 90, 128, 141. summer coat of deer, 124, 14.3, 144. winter coat of deer, 127, 140^ 149, et seq. Haversian' systems in antlers, 172, 174. Hayden's Elk, 217. Head of Acapulco Deer, 161. Antelope, 24. Barren-ground Caribou, 160. Black-tailed Deer, 161. Common Deer, 161. Moose, 160. Mule Deer, 161. Wapiti Deer, 161. Woodland Caribou, 160. Hearing, 57, 70, 163. Horns, 17. of Antelope, 25. Hollow horns, 17. deciduous, of Antelope, 25. , growth of, 28, et seq. Hunting. See Chase, 345. Hybrids, 31, et seq. Hybrids not always unfertile, 312. Hybridity of the Cervidse, 310, et seq. Intelligence of Antelope, 52. Interdigital glands, 263, et seq., 413, et seq. Irish Elk, 195. Lachrymal sinus, 161, 162. Legs, color of, 40, 135, 136. Le Wapiti, 77. Long-tailed deer, 102. M. Mammas, all deer have four active, 295. Mane of Moose, 129. Wapiti Deer, 129. Metatarsal glands, 135, 250, et seq., 416. Migrations, of Barren-ground Caribou, 91,108, 109. Woodland Caribou, 91, 108. Monogamic habit of Moose, 75. of Roe Deer, 75. Montana, Moose'in, 72. Moose, 69, et seq., 117, 118, 126-128, 130- •l33, 137, et seq., 151, 152, 157, 163, 193, et seq., 236, 250, et seq., 269, 273, 276, et seq., 319, 323, et seq., 347, et seq., 353, 406, 411. Moose Deer, 69. INDEX. 425 Muffle covered, 86, 131, 137. naked, 131, 132. Mule Deer, 92, 93. Murie, Dr., on glands of Antelope, 37. Muzzle, 130, 131. 0. Odor of Antelope, 36, 37, 64, 65. of tarsal gland of Caribou, 415. of interdigital glands of deer, 263, et seq. Ornamental coat, 151, et seq. Orignal, 69. Ossification of antlers, 1 74. Palm on antlers, 193. of Acapulco Deer, 228, 229. Barren-ground Caribou, 208, 209. Moose, 194, et seq. Woodland Caribou, 200. Pedicel for antlers, 170, 177, 193. of Acapulco Deer, 228. Wapiti Deer, 211. Pelage, 138, 142, et seq. Periosteum of antlers, 170, 172. Place in Natural History of Antelope, 63, 300. Play or amusement of deer, 296, 297,301. Polygamous habit of Wapiti Deer, 83. Prong Buck, 19, 22. Prong Horn Antelope, 22. R. Rangifer Groenlandicus, 105. RangiferJiastalis, 86. Rangifer tarandus, 86. Red coat of Deer, 126. Red Deer, 78, 146. Red Deer of Ceylon, 116. Reindeer or Raindeer, 86. Royal tine, 193. Ruminantia, 17. Rutting season, time and character of — of Antelope, 44-46. Barren-ground Caribou, 109. Common Deer, 307. Mule Deer, 297. Moose, 75, 278, 280, 350, 361. Wapiti, 83, 284, 289, et seq. S. Scandinavian Elk, 199. Sexual aversion among different species, 310, et seq. Sexual inclination unnatural sometimes, 315. Sight of Antelope, 56. Barren-ground Caribou, 368, et seq. Common Deer, 381. Moose, 359. Woodland Caribou, 363. Size of Acapulco Deer, 121. Antelope, 24., Barren-ground Caribou, 105, 121. Black-tailed Deer, 119. Common Deer, 102, 120, 121. Lapland Reindeer, 119, 328. Moose, 70, 74, 117, 323, 324. Mule Deer, 119. Red Deer or Stag, 332, et seq. Swedish Elk, 323, 324. Wapiti Deer, 81, 118, 332. Woodland Caribou, 86, 118, 328. Skins, 412. of Antelope, 41. Black-tailed Deer, 413. Common Deer, 412. Moose, 410. Mule Deer, 412. Wapiti Deer, 411, 412. Woodland Caribou, 90. Smell, sense of in Deer, dull in Barren- ground Caribou, 112. Snags on antlers, 193, 228. on brow and bez tines of antlers of Red Deer and Wapiti Deer, 214, 215. Solid Horns, 18. Species of Acapulco Deer, 113. of American Deer enumerated, 66. of Barren-ground Caribou distinct, 106, et seq. Cervus leucurus and Cervus Mexi- canus are Cervus Virginianus, 102, 121. Specific description of Acapulco Deer, 113. Antelope, 22. Barren-ground Caribou, 105. Black-tailed Deer, 97. Common Deer, 100. Moose, 70. Mule Deer, 93. Wapiti Deer, 78. Woodland Caribou, 86. Spike antlers, 193, 230, et seq. Spike Bucks, no such variety, 230, et seq. Sportsmen becoming naturalists, 346. Spots on fawns, 151, et seq., 157, 158. 426 INDEX. Spots on adults, 156, et seq. in place of antlers, 158. Stupid, Barren-ground Caribou, 112, 367. Summer coat of the deer, 124. Swedish Elk, 199. T. Tail of Aoapulco Deer, 113, 234, 241, 242. Antelope, 35. Barren-ground Caribou, 234. Black-tailed Deer, 97, 234, 235. Common Deer, 101, 234, 240, 241. Moose, 234, 235. Mule Deer, 93, 234, 235, 236. Red Deer, 336. Wapiti Deer, 234, 235, 236. Woodland Caribou, 86, 234, 235. Tarsal glands, 251, et seq. Tarandus Arcticus, 105. Tarandus Caribou, 86. Tarandus rangifer, 86. Teuthlalmacame, 22. The Caribou, 86. The chase, 345. The Eeindoer or Caribou, 86. The Wapiti, 78. Tines of antlers, 193, 213. Triplet antlers, 215, 216. Tubercles on antlers, 193, 223, 229. Tufts of hairs over glands, 247, et seq., 258, 260, 261. on tail of Mule Deer, 93, 235. U. Unnatural association between the sexes of different genera, 315. V. Velvet on antlers, 171. how it is torn off, 172, 173, 177. Velvet is not destroyed by compression of arteries at the burr, 172. Veniscn of Antelope, 41. Barren-ground Caribou, 407. Venison of Black-tailed Deer, 98, 409. Common Deer, 409,410. Moose, 406. Mule Deer, 409. Wapiti Deer, 408. Venison of Woodland Caribou, 91, 406. Virginia Deer, 100. Vitality of Antelope, 57, 58. Common Deer, 381. Wapiti Deer, 375. Voice of the Moose, 351, 352, 361. the Wapiti Deer, 84, 288. the Woodland Caribou, 363. W. Wapiti, 78. Wapiti Deer, 78. Wans on antlers, 193. VVeeping, of Antelope, 46. Wewaskiss, 78. Wild Lapland Reindeer, antlers of, 203, 204. Winter coat of deer, 145. White patch on rump of Antelope, 40. Wapiti Deer, 145. White-tailed Deer, 102. Woodland Caribou, 86. antlers of, 199, et seq. Young Antelope, 20, 49. deer, 151, et seq. Barren-ground Caribou, when dropped, 142, 143.