12 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



particularly in the great pine barrens and tupelo 

 swamps of the Carolinas. There are few essen- 

 tial differences or peculiarities of the Deer of the 

 South. As a rule they are smaller, sleeker crea- 

 tures than those of the North, more graceful, 

 too, and their coloring is lighter. It is very 

 seldom, indeed, that a buck in the Carolinas will 

 run 175 poimds. On the other hand, the antlers 

 of the southern Deer are superior in beauty and 

 symmetry, to, for instance, those of the Deer of 



TEXAS WHITE-TAIL FAWN 

 The fawns of the White-Tail group are beautifully spotted) 



the western Pennsylvania mountains. Recently, 

 on a visit to a taxidermist's shop in that State, I 

 examined the heads of twenty-six bucks, and but 

 one pair of horns could be called fine in their size 

 and symmetry. The others were bent, crooked, 

 knotted and generally misshapen. The same con- 

 dition was true at another time when I examined 

 the antlers of nineteen bucks. However, a perfect 

 Deer head of the North is a more splendid trophy 

 than one of the South, the antlers have a larger 

 beam, longer tines, and a wider spread. Their 

 whole appearance is more picturesque and rug- 

 ged. I take this difference in horns to be largely 

 due to the fact that northern Deer are, for the 

 most part, creatures of the mountains or of rough 

 country. Their paths are up and down hill, along 



steep declivities, and through dense areas of 

 second-growth sprouts. Of necessity, their 

 horns get rough treatment ; and when they are 

 in the velvet, a rap or a push or a pull will mean, 

 later in the hardened antler, some decided blem- 

 ish. In the level, open woods of the South, it is 

 only by singular mischance they are found with 

 parts broken clear ofif, probably in a clash be- 

 tween rival bucks, but as a rule their development 

 is normal and very graceful. 



" I believe the Deer of the South are more 

 gregarious than those of the other localities. 

 When unmolested, they herd readily. Of course, 

 in the mating season, extending through the 

 autumn and the early winter, a buck will nearly 

 always be found with two or three does. On 

 four or five occasions I have seen a buck at that 

 season with four does. But this gathering is 

 not gregarious. .\t other times, in the great pine 

 woods and swamps of the South, Deer are foimd 

 in large families, and even where they are hunted 

 a good deal, they are fond of running together. 

 I have seen as many as eleven in such a drove, 

 while a herd of six or eight is no uncommon 

 sight. However, during the autumn and winter, 

 deer of widely different ages do not consort: it 

 is unusual at that season to see a fawn of the 

 same year ; certainly they do not associate with 

 the bucks and does which are then mating. Dur- 

 ing a two days' hunt I have seen twenty or more 

 Deer, everyone of which appeared large. The 

 growing fawns are evidently dissociated from the 

 older Deer during this season. 



"If permitted to live out their lives. Deer will 

 probably go from twelve to fifteen years. But 

 one seldom sees a Deer as old as that. There is 

 a scourge called the Black Tongue which comes 

 through the southern woods periodically — gen- 

 erally everv six or seven years. This dread dis- 

 ease pitifully depletes the ranks of the White-tail. 

 Its symptoms are those of a galloping consump- 

 tion, and I have no doubt that is a form of viru- 

 lent tuberculosis ; fever, ague, inertia, and general 

 wasting away are some of its fatal signs. Negro 

 turpentine workers have often told me of coming 

 on Deer thus stricken ; at which times they made 

 no efTort to clear themselves. I myself have 

 never seen a Deer sick in this way, but I have 

 ridden the woods after the plague had passed, 

 and I have seen many that had ])erished by reason 

 of it. Of course, there is no practical way of 

 ministering to creatures so wild and shy, even if 

 their disease were amenable to the skill of medi- 



