The Deer of the River Bottoms 119 



tims appeared to distinguish perfectly well between 

 a mere passerby, whom they regarded with abso- 

 lute indifference, and any one who harbored sinister 

 designs. They kept such a sharp look-out, and 

 made off so rapidly if any one tried to approach 

 them, that on two evenings the appointed hunter 

 returned empty-handed, and by the third some one 

 else had brought in a couple of black-tail. After 

 that no necessity arose for molesting the two "tame 

 deer," for whose sound common-sense we had all 

 acquired a greatly increased respect. 



When not much molested white-tail feed in the 

 evening or late afternoon; but if often shot at and 

 chased they only come out at night. They are very 

 partial to the water, and in the warm summer nights 

 will come down into the prairie ponds and stand 

 knee-deep in them, eating the succulent marsh 

 plants. Most of the plains rivers flow through 

 sandy or muddy beds with no vegetable growth, 

 and to these, of course, the deer merely come down 

 to drink or refresh themselves by bathing, as they 

 contain nothing to eat. 



Throughout the day the white-tails keep in the 

 densest thickets, choosing if possible those of con- 

 siderable extent. For this reason they are confined 

 to the bottoms of the rivers and the mouths of the 

 largest creeks, the cover elsewhere being too scanty 

 to suit them. It is very difficult to make them leave 

 one of their haunts during the daytime. They lie 

 very close, permitting a man to pass right by them ; 

 and the twigs and branches surrounding them are 



