682 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



MULE DEER FAWNS, 

 aluable addition' to the herd of mule de 



three hours day and nin;ht. If they got hungr}' 

 they would either jump on me or climb all over 

 my body — for I slept in the little corral with 

 them. I found if I left them they got uneasy 

 and tried all manner of ways to escape. Old 

 Skookum, the pack-horse, seemed to take no end 

 of interest in them, looking at them as if he had 

 a mind to herd them. Poor little orpharts, when 

 I had t'lem fed they would all lie down close be- 

 side me and go to sleep, I sujjpose, or, at any 

 rate let me get forty winks, till hungry again 

 when the_v would beat me with their fore feet. 

 Their mothers must have a hard time with them, 

 liut not many mothers had as many as I was 

 lilessed with. 



After having fully graduated on the sucking 

 bottle, I made them three small crates and fitted 

 them as side packs on the trusty back of Skoo- 

 kum, jjlacing two kids in each of those on the 

 sides and one on top. It was a bulky pack, and 

 necessitated a deal of chopping by Jimmy and 

 myself to get rid of the trees that obstructed the 

 narrow trail down by Sheep Lake and so down- 

 wards to Sam C'adeux's place above Slieep Creek 

 road house and the open ease of the wagon 

 roads home to Fort Steele, where we built an 

 enclosure about one hundred feet square close 

 to our shack and enclosed with close wire fenc- 

 ing. It was something of a sight for Fort 

 Steele people to behold tliose little fellows come 

 climbing over myself and each other to get the 



first drink from the feeding bottle and follow- 

 ing me around the streets. 



As in tile ease of the two we captured in 1904, 

 I found they did better on birch brush (the 

 leaves and small twigs), than any other food, 

 though, of course, while on that class of dietry 

 tliey had their cream as usual. In the fall I 

 weaned them from the kidlike folly of mere 

 cream and feeding bottles and began to feed 

 tliem with bran and oats mixed. They got 

 along splendidly on tliis, but seemed to greatly 

 like good clover hay of wliich they got all tliey 

 cared to eat. 



I was sorry the day I parted with them to go 

 on their long journey to the Bronx Zoological 

 Gardens, for they were really interesting little 

 pels. It is true they would never permit a 

 strange hand to be laid on them, and if a 

 stranger apj^roached too close to them they 

 would at once stampede to me for protection. 

 I suppose they looked on mc as their parent, or 

 protector, or Special Providence. Anyhow, I 

 trust they are proving a credit to my educational 

 establishment. I did the best that in me lay 

 to perfect them for the great outside world and 

 the perils and pitfalls of Gotham. Here, by the 

 way, Mr. T. T. McVittie, P. L. S., of Fort 

 Steele, saw them the other day, and from his 

 account of them I feel that "My Kids" are 

 maintaining the reputation of the land of their 

 nativity. 



