( AKIACL'S VIRGINIANUS. I 3 



trees are usuall)' alive and Lii^reen. which could hardly he the case 

 were the drift theor)' true; 2d. the line is often most strongly marked 

 on the shores of pontls that are too small, and too closely hemmed 

 in by hills, to afford the wind a chance to drift the snow about their 

 borders; and 3d, the foliage line is, in all instances where I have 

 observed it, perfectly straight, and exactly parallel to the surface of 

 the water, which could not possibly be the case were it caused by 

 irregularly drifted snow. 



Moreover, it is now an ascertained fact that the green line is a 

 result of the wintering of Ueer along the shores where it exists, 

 and the evidence on this head may be summed up as follows : 

 In the first place, it is absent from at least half of the cedar bordered 

 lakes, and is only found, of recent origin, in localities where Deer are 

 known to winter. On some of the larger lakes it is confined to one 

 shore and sometimes to a single deep bay, while the cedars about 

 the rest of the lake remain unmarred. Furthermore, it is a fact, which 

 can be verified by any one willing to take the trouble, that where the 

 Deer still winter in these places the snow which covers the ice is 

 literally trodden down by them, a well beaten path follows closely 

 the outline of the shore, and the stumps of newly broken branches 

 may here and there be found. The height of the line shows the dis- 

 tance that a full grown Deer can reach when standing on the snow 

 and ice. And finally, trustworthy witnesses affirm that they have 

 observed the Deer standing on the ice in the act of browsing upon 

 the low branches of cedars overhang-ino- the lake. I regard all this 

 evidence as conclusive. 



Though Deer are generally spoken of as nocturnal, they are by no 

 means strictly so. their habits, in this particular, being modified by 

 the environment. In localities that are much frequented by man 

 they keep their beds during the greater part of the day, and feed 

 mostly by night ; while in the remoter sections the reverse seems to 

 be true. 



The spot on which one lies to rest is called its bed. It is gener- 



