86 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



VOICE The Deer is generally considered a very silent animal, yet 



the list of its noises increases with fuller observation. Ac- 

 cording to Audubon and Bachman:-^ "The fawn has a gentle 

 bleat that might be heard by the keen ears of its mother at 

 the distance, probably, of loo yards. We have never heard 

 the voice of the female beyond a mere murmur when calling 

 her young, except when shot, when she often bleats like a calf 

 in pain. The buck when suddenly started sometimes utters 

 a snort, and we have at night heard him emitting a shrill 

 whistling sound, not unlike that of a chamois of the Alps, that 

 could be heard the distance of half a mile." 



''In riding through the woods at night in the vicinity of 

 Deer we have often heard them stamp their feet, the bucks on 

 such occasions giving a loud snort, then bounding off for a few 

 yards, and again repeating the stamping and snorting, which 

 appear to be nocturnal habits."-^ 



They have also a louder, coarser snort or challenge, as 

 noted later. 



Franklin T. Payne describes^" some park bucks that he 

 shipped as "bawling with rage when captured." 



"In all my experience [says A. Y. Walton^^], extending 

 over about forty years, I have never but once heard a Deer 

 make use of the voice when seeking a lost mate. This oc- 

 curred when, upon one occasion, having shot at and scattered 

 a band of stags, one of the number, not having seen or scented 

 us, turned back, evidently seeking his leader, and passed close 

 by, making a low, muttering noise like that sometimes uttered 

 by the domestic ram." 



Commenting on the above facts, Ernest McVeigh, of 

 Ottawa, Ont., writes me on October 19, 1906: 



" My experience of Deer has been pretty much confined to 

 the Province of Ontario, ranging from the Georgian Bay to 

 Montreal, and I have noted all of the sounds mentioned by 

 you. But two or three years ago I had a new experience. I 



^«Quad. N. A., 1849, Vol. II, pp. 226-7. 



^"Ibid., p. 229. 



^'^ Recreation Magazine, May, 1898, p. 377. 



^*A. Y. Walton, Forest and Stream, June 15, 1895, p. 485. 



