DEER. 



267 



the European stag, being four feet high at the shoul- 

 ders, and four inches higher at the crupper. The 

 prevailing colour on the upper part is reddish bay ; 

 the tail is of medium length, and I he two incisive 

 teeth are larger than the rest. The females are 

 smaller than the bucks, and without the black line on 

 the breast. The fawns are ot a uniform dun colour, 

 and without any spots. The hair on the posterior 

 part, of the abdomen, and all the way between the hip 

 and the under side of the tail is very long, white for 

 the greater part of its length, but with dark points. 



This species is most abundant in the swampy 

 regions of Paraguay, in the centre of South America, 

 and according to the account given by D'Azzara, the 

 season of rutting and also that of shedding the horns 

 are not so determinate as in the deer of the northern 

 hemisphere. This is not to be wondered at, if we 

 consider the character of the country which these 

 animals inhabit. When the rains set in, a very great 

 extent of the surface is laid under water, by which 

 means the deer are dispersed to the margins of the 

 temporary lakes, where they find abundant food ; and 

 as the dry season comes on, and the waters subside, 

 they retreat upon the remaining portion of the marsh, 

 which is seldom dried up even in the hottest season. 

 These animals may, therefore, be regarded as enjoy- 

 ing a perpetual summer ; and, therefore, as is the 

 case with most animals which enjoy this, their breed- 

 ing is not confined to one particular season, but is 

 distributed over the whole year. We still know too 

 little of the natural history of South America for 

 being able to decide with precision the geographical 

 situation of this or any other species ; but it is pro- 

 bable that the one under consideration is very gene- 

 rally distributed over all the swampy grounds. 



THE GUA/ETI DEER Cervus campestris. This 

 is also a South American species, but inhabits the dry 

 plains rather than the bushy margins of the marshes. 

 This is smaller than the former species, being only 

 about two feet six inches at the shoulder, and two feet 

 eight and a half at the croup ; the horns are a foot 

 long, slender, with the beam suberect, a branch ante- 

 riorly placed, bent upwards, and posteriorly one or 

 two snags towards the summit ; the eyes are large 

 and brown, with a suborbital fold ; the ears erect and 

 pointed ; the fur smooth and close, is reddish-bay, the 

 hair being reddish-bay at the point, and dull brown 

 at the base ; the inferior parts of the body, the under 

 side of the head and tail, which measures six inches, 

 are white, as also the hinder part of the buttocks, and 

 internal face of the thighs, a circle round the eyes and 

 inside of the ears. The hair on the lower part of the 

 abdomen is not so much produced as in the species 

 last described. 



It is understood that this species is also very gene- 

 rally distributed over South America, and that it is 

 particularly abundant in Patagonia, the plains and 

 valleys of which are much more perenially green than 

 those of the more tropical parts of America. It 

 resides in the open plains, is remarkably swift ; and 

 the male emits, when pursued, a strong smell of 

 onions ; which, however, is supposed to result more 

 from feeding on bulbous roots than from any natural 

 quality in the animal, as some specimens which have 

 been kept alive in Europe and fed upon grass, have 

 not emitted the same odour. The horns of this, and 

 indeed of most of the South American species of deer, 

 are, however, subject to so much variation, that there is 

 some difficulty in making them out. The horns of 



deer are, indeed, perplexing matters. As we havo 

 already said, there are, at least, ten times as many 

 pair of horns as deer ; and these pairs are not only 

 all different by nature in different years, but they arc 

 liable to accidental differences from hurts or other- 

 wise ; and we have further reason to believe that not 

 only difference of climate varies them, but that they 

 are farther varied by differences of seasons. They 

 are seasonal productions, as well as annual plants ; 

 and the feathers of birds are, and we know that these 

 are, affected by the character of the season. Farther 

 we know that, in the same species, and even in tb 

 same group of deer, the horns are less produced in 

 warm climates than in cold ones ; and it follows, by 

 parity of reasoning, that they should be less produced 

 in warm seasons than in cold ones. These and many 

 other circumstances render it very questionable 

 whether the form of the horns ought to be taken as 

 the characteristic of the different species of deer ; 

 and it is certainly true that much perplexity has been 

 occasioned by the horns of the less known species, 

 and particularly by shed horns, the owners of which 

 are altogether unknown. 



THE CABIACOU DEER Cervus nemoralis. This 

 species is considered as a variety of the Virginian 

 deer ; though it is understood to inhabit more south- 

 erly latitudes, being abundant in the woods of tropical 

 America. In the United States this animal is called 

 the roebuck ; and it bears considerable resemblance to 

 the roebuck of the eastern continent. The following 

 is Hamilton Smith's description from specimens, of 

 Virginian origin, which were kept in the hospital 

 gardens at New York : " The horns not more than 

 eight inches long, somewhat vertical, rugous at base, 

 with a small antler not above an inch in height, rising 

 vertically at a short distance up the anterior part of 

 the beam, which at the insertion of the antler, bent 

 back, and then being slightly flattened, turned inwards 

 and forwards in a slightly uncinated bend, throwing 

 oft' a posterior short snag, which constituted a bifur- 

 cation ; the buck and does were nearly of the same 

 size and colours ; the head rather round, not so pro- 

 longed as in Guazeti, and the body longer than the 

 roebuck, about twenty-eight inches high at the shoul- 

 ders and thirty at the croup ; the neck, shoulders, 

 sides, and back, were of a yellowish brown grey ; the 

 inferior part of the belly, edge of the buttocks and 

 under tail white; the face darker brown grey ; leaving 

 the region round the nose, lips, and chin likewise 

 white, with a black spot on the nose, one at each side 

 of the mouth, on the upper lip, and one at the corner 

 of the lower lip ; the space round the orbits and 

 cheeks, dun, with a little whitish favour behind the 

 eye ; the ears moderately long and pointed, were 

 brown-grey outside and whitish-grey inside ; the eyes 

 full, dark, and soft, with a small suborbital fold beneath ; 

 the muzzle small, round, and black : from the knees 

 downward to the fetlock was a dark streak, but the 

 rest of the limbs ochry ; and the tail about four 

 inches long, was dusky above, without any long- 

 white hair at the edges. 



" While engaged in making the sketch, they were 

 fed with bread, and the buck, jealous of the does 

 sharing the dainty, showed his propensity to leap, for 

 he drove them off by butting them, the head turned 

 sideways, not unlike a goat in play, rising for the 

 purpose high upon his hind legs, and not by running 

 with the head low like the stag. It being in the 

 month of March, their mewing period, he broke one 



