322 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



strange but well authenticated taste of the former animal by 

 devouring the lemming ;^ otherwise the habits of the two vari- 

 eties are perfectly similar as regards food." 



Speaking of the Barren-ground Caribou, Sir John Richardson 

 says : " The lichens on which the Caribou feed whilst on the 

 barren grounds are the Cornicularia tristis, divergens, and ocJiri- 

 leuca, the Cetraria nivalis, cucullata, and Islandica, and the 

 Cononyce rangiferinar 



In the southern part of their range, to which they retire in the 

 winter season, these deer find forests bordering the barren 

 grounds, and no doubt here they partake more or less of ar- 

 boreous food. 



Of the four other species of -deer it may be said in general that 

 they all affect the same kinds of food. The leaves and twigs 

 of trees and shrubs, all the finer kinds of grasses, at least a great 

 variety of weeds, especially the bitter sorts, the seeds of grasses, 

 the fruits of trees, as the wild apples, and plums, and cherries, 

 acorns, and all sorts of berries and rose apples, and all sorts of 

 grain and seeds to which they have access, are freely taken by 

 them. The Virginia Deer alone seems capable of masticating 

 the hickory nut, and it is with difficulty that the Mule Deer and 

 the Acapulco Deer can masticate the well dried grains of the 

 maize, but they soon learn to swallow them whole, and after 

 they have been well softened in the stomach they are ruminated 

 with great apparent satisfaction. 



In my grounds, they will only eat the blades and heads of the 

 coarser hay, like timothy and clover, and I find it best to provide 

 a good supply of fine rowen hay for their use, or better yet, a 

 fodder consisting mostly of weeds, no matter how large and 

 coarse, well cured. This they will pick over with great satisfac- 

 tion. A good coat of blue grass under the snow is the best pro- 

 vision for a winter supply for them. This they reach with great 

 facility by scraping away the snow ; but with all this, no matter 

 how abundant, they do not consider themselves well used without 

 a ration of corn every day in the winter. I have never seen any 

 of the deer ruminating, except when lying down. All are fond 

 of salt, and they should have that condiment always accessible, 

 and even then the want of an abundance of arboreous food seems 

 to impair their health and vigor. 



1 I frequently meet with the statement, even in respectable works on natural his- 

 tory, that the Lapland reindeer are in the habit of devouring the lemming, but I do 

 not remember to have met the statement by any one that he has actually seen it 

 done, so that I do not really know how authentic the statement is. 



