Virginia or Red Deer. 77 



1 A neighbor, near my home, had one for a pet, and its favor- 

 ite amusement was to sneak into the house whenever a door 

 was left open. When an attempt was made to drive the in- 

 truder out, it had a habit of jumping through a window with- 

 out the formahty of a sash being raised. But this habit proved 

 its destruction at last, as a sharp piece of broken glass pene- 

 trated its lung, causing its death. This animal was a doe. The 

 adult pet buck is very apt to be dangerous at certain seasons, 

 and is anything but a desirable pet. 



The flesh of a young and fat Virginia deer is extremely 

 juicy and delicious. When broiled it is the most nutritious and 

 easily digested meat I have ever eaten, and I think far superior 

 to the venison of the "mule deer" of the West. 



The deer feeds in the early morning and late in the evening, 

 and is rather nocturnal in its habits. This is particularly the 

 case when they are much hunted or disturbed. During the 

 middle of the day they rest concealed in some thicket or fallen 

 tree top. The note of the buck is a shrill whistling sound ; 

 that of the doe, a bleat like a calf in distress, but it is rare that 

 the doe makes any sound. 



When deer were abundant in Ohio, Kentucky and West 

 Virginia, they frequently swam across the Ohio River. 



Mr. E. \\\ Knight, of Charleston, W. Va., who has hunted 

 them in West Virginia, has written me in regard to the scarcity 

 of deer. He says he does not think there are now any wild 

 deer within twenty miles of the Ohio River in West Virginia. 

 He says deer are decreasing in most parts of his state very fast. 



In early times, before the day of the deadly and destructive 

 firearms, this species was evidently very abundant in the Ohio 

 and Miarni valleys, indicated by the great quantities of crania 

 and other bones found in excavating in the ancient cemetery 

 near Batavia Junction, Hamilton Co., Ohio, and other places, 

 many of the bones being manufactured into various implements 

 by the race of people who have, like the deer, long since become 

 extinct in the locality. But from the conditions surrounding 



35 



