ACCI- 

 DENTS 



92 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



as I have noticed have, however, been confined to the Virginian 

 Deer. 



H: ***** * 



"I have lost many Virginian Deer with a swelling under 

 the lower jaw. It commences two or three inches back of the 

 chin, and finally swells out 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 three inches long, and the protuber- 

 ance 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 Virginian Deer which have been attacked, 

 so far as I know, have died. In the early part of my experi- 

 ments 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. I have no account that this 

 disease has ever been observed among the wild Deer of the 

 forest; certainly I have never seen one aflflicted with it." 



Many a man on first seeing Deer dash through the dan- 

 gerous, mazy wreck of a storm-track has wondered how they 

 could escape with their lives. As a matter of fact, they suff^er 

 many accidents in their haste. I suppose that not one adult 

 Deer in ten has escaped being snagged many times, as shown 

 by scars on legs and belly. One very strange case of the sort 

 is recorded from Montana by R. C. Fisk.^^ He shot a doe 

 Whitetail that had a "fir branch over a foot long and over 

 half an inch thick" driven into her body. It had entered 

 between the fourth and fifth ribs on the right side, missed the 



^* Outdoor Life, December, 1898. 



