T4 MAMMALIA. 



ally hidden in some thicket, under the low branches of an evergreen, 

 or by the top of a fallen tree/^' 



They have no fear of water and. when pressed by wolves or dogs, 

 take to it as a means of escape. They are excellent swimmers, 

 moving with such speed that a man must row briskly to overhaul 

 them. Even the young fawns swim well, and I once caught one 

 alive that had been driven into the lake. It was in the spotted coat, 

 and not more than three months old.*!' 



The extraordinary sagacity of some of these animals, and the te- 

 merity, I might even say stupidity, of others is astonishing. As a 

 general thing a Deer is always on the alert; his eyesight is good, his 

 hearing acute, and his sense of smell developed to an unusual de- 

 gree. Under ordinary circumstances he detects the whereabouts of 

 man at a considerable distance, and even if abundant is seldom seen. 

 At other times, particularly when feeding on the margin of a lake 

 or river, if the wind is right he may be approached in broad day- 

 light by aid of a boat, and will only raise his head from time to time, 

 gazing at the intruder in a vacant sort of a way; but let the wind 

 shift a trifle, so that he gets a whiff from the direction of the boat, 

 and he is off in an instant. Alono- the borders of the Wilderness a 

 Deer will sometimes join a group of cows or ^heep at pasture, and. 

 follow them home within gunshot of the house. Not a few have met 

 their death in this way. 



During the deep snows of our severer winters Deer are apt to 



* While on a snow-shoe-tramp from Big Otter to Big Moosc lake, in January, I8S3, I 

 counted upwards of forty Deer beds — mere depressions in the snow. One only was in an exposed 

 position, being in a little opening alongside a maple sapling. With this single exception, aLwere 

 under the shelter of small spruce and balsam trees, the space between the bed and the overhang- 

 ing branches, loaded down with ice and snow, being in most cases barely sufficient to admit the 

 animal. 



f In Forest and Stream for Dec. 6, 1883 (vol. XXI, no. 19, p. 362), occurs the following: 

 " Deer at Sea. — Portland, Me., Nov. 29. — The British schooner Howard came in yesterday with 

 one of Howard Knowlton's deer on board, which had been picked up about five miles out at sea. 

 The animal escaped from the garden on Peak's Island la>t summer, and had not been seen since 

 probably having kept in the woods at the lower end of the island. This is the biggest feat of cap 

 turing deer in the water on record." 



