136 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



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 

 become very appreciative of his own importance, when he will 

 strut around, his tail elevated to a vertical position, as is ob- 

 served with the male goat." 



Similar testimony is borne by many Colorado hunters. 

 McFadden tells me that he has seen five of the fawns playing 

 in this same way. 



CIDENTS 



CIS- Those who have not thought of it before are surprised to 



FASKS 



AND AC- learn that the old idea of man being the diseased animal is 

 without foundation. To such it comes with a shock when 

 they learn that practically all animals are more or less diseased, 

 that none are perfect. The Mule-deer has many troubles of 

 its own, as the following record of Deer examined in Routt 

 County, Col., will show: 



September 2, 1901, Lost Creek. Found a dead fawn 

 much inflated; did not dissect it. 



September 6, Pagoda Creek. C. E. shot a 2-year-old 

 young buck; it weighed 153 pounds and seemed in perfect 

 condition, but it had in the back a hole an inch deep as though 

 it had been recently snagged. In its intestines was a worm 

 12 inches long and \ inch thick; in the fat of the loins was a 

 hydatid cyst (embryo of tapeworm) like a bag of jelly about 

 I inch by 2 inches. 



This buck had both ears split; it looked, the guide said, 

 like the ear-mark of the "Cross-bar Z" Cattle Ranch. 



September 12, Pagoda Creek. L. H. shot a 3-year-old 

 buck; it weighed 226I pounds. It was very fat and seemed 

 free of all disease. It was accompanying a much larger buck. 



September 18, Lost Park. L. H. shot a large buck. At 

 first sight he thought it was an Elk, it was so large and pale in 

 colour. It turned out to be a miserable cripple. It had evi- 

 dently snagged itself badly some weeks before. There was a 

 large hole into the belly; the entrails had been pierced by the 



