284 . THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



is the females that rush at the fence to get at the dog on the 

 opposite side, while the males stand back and treat the matter 

 with apparent indifference. If a dog gets into the park and first 

 meets a band of buck Elk, they will take fright and break away 

 towards the does ; but, when he falls in with even a single doe, 

 the white patch upon the rump rises up immediately ; her eyes 

 flash with rage, and, without an instant's hesitation, she pitches 

 at him, while the bucks will fall in the rear, and perhaps stop or 

 follow up, rather than join in the chase. Indeed, I am obliged 

 to say that the buck Elk is not only extremely selfish and tyran- 

 nical, but, as is usual with tyrants, is an arrant coward. He 

 may be ferocious, but not courageous. Neither in the wild or 

 the domestic state will he make an effort to protect or defend 

 either the young or the female, but seems willing to sacrifice 

 them all for his own safety. 



Individuals differ very much in their dispositions, some being 

 much more vicious than others, or rather some being naturally 

 very wicked, while a large majority show no such disposition. 

 I have had more than one hundred in my grounds altogether, 

 and yet I never had but two that were positively wicked. These 

 reached as near the point of total depravity during the rutting 

 season as I think it possible for a brute to do. Both these 

 animals I purchased with four does. They were probably raised 

 by hand, which, as we shall see, tends to divest all the deer fam- 

 ily of their natui-al fear of man, which allows their native vicious- 

 ness to manifest itself, which is very apt to happen, at least with 

 the males, during the rut. This, no doubt, tended to aggravate 

 the innate wickedness of these Elk, but is quite insufficient to 

 explain it all. I had previously had a very fine specimen, five 

 years old, which had not only been brought up by hand, but 

 kept in a show for a long time, and, although during the rut he 

 would make ugly faces, utter the threatening squeal, and make 

 threatening gestures, especially to strangers, he never made an 

 assault upon any one, and not only his keeper but strangers 

 were in the habit of going through the park at all seasons. 



The fall after he was three years old, having returned home 

 after a short absence, I went into the park and met the Elk 

 which proved to be so wicked. During my absence, he had shed 

 the velvet from his antlers, which were now well polished. As 

 soon as he saw me he walked towards me in a confident and 

 rather impudent way. I picked up a hickory club I found near, 

 and stepped behind a small tree, which he directly straddled 



