OF WILD ANIMALS 289 



of several persons to keep them alive. For six months they 

 moped about their corral, but at last they began to improve. 

 The oldest doe gave birth to two fawns which actually survived. 

 But, even when the next mating season began, the buck con- 

 tinued to be lanquid and blase. At no time did he exhibit 

 signs of temper, of even suspicious vigor. 



In the middle of the night of November 6, 1906, without 

 the slightest warning, he decided to commit a murder, and the 

 mother of the two nursing fawns was selected as the victim. 

 Being weak from the rearing of her offspring, she was at his 

 mercy. He gored her most savagely, about twenty times, and 

 killed her. 



That was deliberate, fiendish and cowardly murder. The 

 killing of any female animal by her male consort is murder; 

 but there are circumstances wherein the plea of temporary 

 insanity is an admissible defense. In the autumn, male mem- 

 bers of the deer family often become temporarily insane and 

 irresponsible, and should be judged accordingly. With us, 

 sexual insanity is a recognized disease. 



Such distressing cases as the above are so common that 

 whenever I go deer-hunting and kill a lusty buck, the thought 

 occurs to me, — "another undeveloped murderer, perhaps!" 



The most exasperating thing about these corral murders is 

 the cunning treachery of the murderers. Here is another 

 typical case: For three years a dainty little male Osceola 

 deer from Florida was as gentle as a fawn and as harmless as 

 a dove. But one crisp morning Keeper Quinn, to whom every 

 doe in his charge is like a foster-daughter, was horrified at 

 finding blood on the absurd little antlers of the Osceola pet. 

 One of the females lay dead in a dark corner where she had 

 been murdered during the night; and this with another and 

 older buck in the same corral which might fairly have been 

 regarded as an offensive rival. 



The desire to murder for the sake of killing is born in 

 some carnivorous animals, and by others it is achieved. Among 



