402 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



French settlers in Canada, from the resemblance which the 

 massive body bears to that of the ox. 



The size of the animal varies much ; the Norwegian are the 

 smallest, and those of Lapland are far inferior to the deer which 

 frequent the polar regions of America and Asia. This quadru- 

 ped is indeed well fitted to flourish in the lands of snow and 

 tempests. The thick hair defends the body from the most 

 piercing cold, while the hard end of the muzzle and the iron- 

 iike hoofs are admirably adapted for removing the frozen snow 

 which covers the white lichens, the favourite food of the animal. 

 These cryptogamous vegetables, which in England rank with 

 the smallest forms of botanical life, and only serve to give a 

 rich tinting to old walls and the trunks of ancient trees, grow 

 luxuriantly en the mountains of Lapland, and cover the 

 barren-ground regions of North America. Among them is the 

 well-known, though wrongly named, Iceland moss, so frequently 

 used by consumptive invalids in England. This is really a 

 lichen, the Citraria Icelandica. The rein-deer sometimes perish 

 from inability to obtain a supply of this food, and terrible 

 then is the condition of the Esquimaux and Laplander. These 

 famines occur when, instead of snow, an impenetrable pavement 

 of thick ice covers the lichen districts, defying all the attempts 

 of the deer to remove the fatal covering. 



In the American regions where these animals abound, they 

 form the chief support of the Indians and Esquimaux, who piti- 

 lessly and recklessly slaughter vast multitudes in autumn, when 

 the fat herds are migrating from their summer homes. Many 

 readers may know what pcmmican is, others : 'may never have 

 even heard the word. It is simply deer's flesh cut small, packed 

 tightly into a skin, and an abundance of melted fat poured into 

 and over the whole, to keep the food from the air, and to give a 

 due richness and flavour to the preserved meat. 



These destructive huntings of the reindeer only happen 

 among the wild and wandering Indian tribe* of America. Tho 

 Laplander knows too well the value of the animals, and pre- 

 serves the providers of his food and clothing with all care. With 

 two or three hundred deer, and a well-situated lichen tract, he 

 cares little for the rise and fall of the foreign food markets, and 

 still less, if that be possible, for the rise and fall of kingdoms. 

 He wants neither railways nor thorough-bred horses ; his 

 trained deer can bear him, if necessaty, .over the glistening 

 snow-tracts at a rate equal to the speed ' of tho swiftest horse. 

 His daughters' marriage portions and the estates of his sons 

 are to be found in his antlered flock. If he wants a winter coat, 

 the rein-deer skin will defy a frost capable of freezing the 

 mercury in the barometer. Is the Laplander an epicure, he has 

 but to order a dish of deer's tongue, properly cooked by his 

 wife or eldest daughter, when ho will have a dinner which is 

 both savoury and nutritious. 



The horns are five or six feet long, flattened at the upper 

 parts, and having antlers projecting from the base of each horn 

 in front, a.nd also antlers springing from the middle of the 

 " beam " or horn-shaft, and directed backwards. Thus tho 

 whole mass may be divided into four parts : tho beam, the base 

 or lower antlers, the middle antlers, and the wide-spreading 

 palmated summit. We must not forget that the female of this 

 species is horned. 



The Musk-deer demands a few words, before proceeding to 

 notice our native species. We admit that this animal can 

 scarcely be ranked with the deer family ; but as popular 

 zoology places them here, and scientific naturalists are unable 

 to class the Moschidce (musk animals) satisfactorily, we shall 

 here regard them as a peculiar species of hornless, but tusked, 

 deer. The true musk animal is found in the high and bleak 

 regions of Thibet ; it is about three feet high, and of a pale 

 yellow tint. The musk is a thick brownish fluid, contained in 

 a fleshy bag about the size of a hen's egg, situated on the ab- 

 domen of the animal. The dried musk in each bag averages 

 about one-third of an ounce, and is worth a sovereign in 

 the market. As 5,000 are sometimes imported in a single 

 year, this involves the destruction of 15,000 animals. The 

 odour of the new musk is so powerful that the dealers are 

 forced to cover their nostrils with thick cloths while inspecting 

 the bags or " pods." This extraordinary perfume is said to 

 retain all its energetic pungency after exposure to the air for 

 a hundred years. It has proved a puzzle to the analytical 

 chemists, who, after detecting ten elements in its composition, 

 ore unable to explain the nature of the perfnme. 



Let us now give a little attention to our native species, the 

 Red Deer, the Roebuck, and the Fallow Deer of our parks. 



The Red Deer, or true stags (Cervus elaphus), are still wild 

 in Scotland, where they give the " stalker " many an oppor- 

 tunity for testing the strength of his muscles and the steadiness 

 of his nerves. The horns of this species are conical, with 

 antlers springing from the bottom and middle of the " beam." 

 They have none of those expanded surfaces which characterise 

 the elks, rein-deer, and fallow-deer. Every part of these for- 

 midable weapons has its appropriate name : the main stem ia 

 the beam ; the great branches springing from this are the 

 antlers ; the projections near the top are the branches ; and 

 those at the tip of the beam are called the sub-royal, or crown. 

 The antlers themselves have distinct names : the first being 

 called the frrow antler, the second the bez-antler, and the third 

 the royal. The bony ring at the bottom of the beam is known 

 as the burr, of which we shall have something to say. The 

 whole of this horn-system is not produced in the first, second, 

 or even third year of the red deer's life. In the first year the 

 horns are but small bumps on the head ; in the second they 

 assume a pointed shape, and are then called dags ; the third 

 year developes the brow antler ; in the next the bez-antler ia 

 produced ; and the fifth year sees the royal antler bud forth, and 

 then the animal becomes a stag. But the horns are not perfect 

 until the sixth and following years form the successive branches 

 of the crown. The number of antlers increases with tho ago of 

 the stag; ten or twelve is, in general, the extreme, but some" 

 heads have borne horns of thirty antlers. 



These stags, in the wild state, are almost extinct in the south 

 of England ; for those turned out to be hunted by the Royal 

 hounds at Windsor are really half-domesticated. A hundred 

 years ago they were numerous in the southern forests ; but 

 these were only the relics of the stately herds for which Wil- 

 liam I. made the New Forest, and for whose protection the 

 ferocious forest laws were enacted. For them, chiefly, nearly 

 seventy forests, and about seven hundred royal parks, were 

 jealously kept, until the irritated baronage, gentry, and com- 

 monera of England insisted upon having their share also in tho 

 hunting of the deer. This animal must, indeed, have a place 

 in the national records, if only for his former importance. Par- 

 liament no longer passes acts for his protection; rebellions 

 are not organised under colour of a stag-hunt ; noblemen have 

 ceased to glory in the privilege of killing a deer on their way 

 to and from Parliament. But we cannot even yet forget that 

 "Chevy Chase " was fought in the -stag's honour, and that the 

 " stark " William of Normandy " loved the red deer as if he 

 had been their father." 



The Roebuck (Cenms capreolus), the smallest of our native 

 deer, has but two antlers on the short horns, lives in small herds 

 of five or six, frequents mountain districts, and must now bo 

 sought in Scotland, where their watchfulness will tax all the 

 hunter's skill. 



Tho Fallow Deer (Cervus dama) is the best known English 

 species, being that usually kept in parks, where their beauty 

 and gentleness are in harmony with the quietude of sylvan 

 scenery. The horns have two antlers directed forwards ; but 

 the upper parts expand into what is called the "palmated" 

 form, which is not fully developed till the animal is six years 

 old. 



The spotted variety is said to have been brought from the 

 South of Europe or North Africa; but the brown kind were 

 introduced by James I. from Denmark. The name fallow is 

 descriptive of the light reddish-brown colour of the most ancient 

 variety, and is derived from a Saxon word signifying a light red. 



A few words on the growth and shedding of the horns are 

 now requisite, as the production of such masses of bony matter 

 every year must have a great influence on the vital functions 

 of the animal. The new horn is at first but a soft and highly- 

 sensitive knob, protected by a fine skin covered with hair, 

 called the "velvet." If the "knob" be gently touched with 

 the finger, it will be found to possess all the heat of inflamma- 

 tory action. As the horn grows, the skin or " velvet " dries 

 up, and is gradually rubbed off by friction against trees. The 

 whole system of blood-vesseis, which nourished the tender- 

 growing horn, cease to act, and, finally, leave nothing but the 

 faint marks of their presence on the solid horn. The burr, or 

 bony ring at the base of the horn, has been the last formed, 

 and we must now consider the influence of this on the shedding 



