OF WILD ANIMALS 153 



happiness, on the savage and fearsome summits that form his 

 chosen home? We must bear in mind that the big-horn does 

 not dare to risk the haunts and trails of his white rivals. Hear 

 the Cragmaster of the Rockies: 



I" On dizzy ledge of mountain wall, above the timber-line 

 I hear the riven slide-rock fall toward the stunted pine. 

 Upon the paths I tread secure no foot dares follow me, 

 For I am master of the crags, and march above the scree." 



In otlici chapters I have referred to the temperament and 

 logic of this animal, the bravest mountaineer of all America. 



THE DEER. — In nervous energy the species of the Deer 

 Family vary all the way from the nervous and hysterical 

 barasingha to the sensible and steady American elk that can 

 successfully be driven in harness like a horse. As I look over 

 the deer of all nations I am bound to award the palm for 

 sound common-sense and reasoning power to the elk. 



A foolishly nervous deer seldom takes time to display high 

 intelligence. Naturally we dislike men, women, children or 

 wild animals who are always ready to make fools of themselves, 

 stampede, and disfigure the landscape. 



The Axis Deer is quietly sensible, — so long as there is no 

 catching to be done. Try to catch one, and the whole herd 

 goes off like a bomb. Many other species are similar. No 

 wild deer could act more absurdly than does the axis, the 

 barasingha and fallow, even after generations have been bred 

 in captivity. 



The Malay Sambar Deer of the Zoological Park have 

 one droll trait. The adult bucks bully and browbeat the does, 

 in a rather mild way, so long as their own antlers are on their 

 heads. But when those antlers take their annual drop, "O, 

 times! 0, manners! What a change!" The does do not 

 lose a day in flying at them, and taking revenge for past 

 tyranny. They strike the hornless bucks with their front feet, 

 they butt them, and they bite out of them mouthfuls of hair. 



