554 UNGULATA. 



flute will attract it, or at least bring it to a standstill. The stag does not 

 seem possessed of much intelligence ; it is shy, but not cautious ; it acts 

 without reflection when its passions are aroused. Altiiough it has 

 several times been partially tamed, and even trained to run in harness, 

 the stag is a very unsafe servant, and at certain seasons becomes danger- 

 ous. In attacking, it uses its fore-feet with terrible eflect, the hard, 

 sharp-edged hoofs being formidable weapons. 



Formerly, the stag was placed in Europe under the protection of the 

 severest penalties, its slaughter being visited with capital punishment on 

 the offender if he could be known and arrested. Indeed, a man who 

 murdered his fellow might hope to escape retribution except by the 

 avenging hand of some relation of the slain man, but if he were unfor- 

 tunate or daring enough to dip his hands in the blood of a stag, he could 

 hope for no mercy if he were detected in the offence. 



THE VIRGINIA DEER. 



The Virginia Deer or Carcajou, Ccrvus Virginianns (Plate XLI), is 

 a very beautiful species, remarkable for its peculiar horns, which are of 

 moderate size, bent boldly backward, and then suddenly curved forward. 

 Its color is a light reddish-brown in spring, slat\--blue in autumn, and 

 dull brown in winter. The abdomen, throat, and chin are white. It is 

 considerably smaller than the species which we have described above, 

 seldom exceeding five feet and a half in length, or three feet and a 

 quarter in height. It is found everywhere in North America from 

 Canada to Mexico, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. It has a strong attachment to certain localities, and if driven trom 

 its resting-place on one day, it will surely be found on the next day 

 within a few yards of the same spot. Sometimes it chooses its lair in 

 close proximity to some plantation, and after feasting on the inclosed 

 vegetables, leaps over the fence as soon as its hunger is satiated, and 

 returns to the spot which it had previously occupied. The animal, how- 

 ever, does not often lie in precisely the same bed on successive nights, 

 l)ut always couches within the compass of a few yards. It is a very 

 <rood swimmer, and loves to immerse itself in rivers to get rid ot ticks 

 and mosquitoes. When swimming, onl}' the head appears above the 

 surface ; and the creature moves so fast as to be hard to overtake by a 



