STRANGE CAPERS OF AN OLD DOE. 157 



For possibly a quarter of an hour I was thus 

 engaged, when my attention was attracted by the 

 indistinct outline of an animal at some distance. 

 Availing myself of the shelter afforded me by an 

 intervening tree, I advanced sufficiently close to the 

 unknown creature to find that it was a deer, with 

 several companions. As they were huddled to- 

 gether, and their heads all pointed in the same 

 direction, my knowledge of the habits of these 

 animals at once told me they were alarmed. What 

 was the cause of their fear I could not tell, but I 

 determined to find out by remaining concealed. At 

 length the largest of the deer, evidently an old 

 doe, left the remainder of the family, advanced a 

 few steps, and, with a spring into the air, dropped 

 on the ground with her four feet pressed closely 

 together. This manoeuvre was repeated again and 

 again, with the greatest celerity; the old lady 

 bounding up and down like an India-rubber ball. 

 Although there was little or no grace in her move- 

 ments, they provoked admiration among her friends, 

 who, without evincing the smallest symptoms of im- 

 patience, or being tempted to feed even by the verdant 

 grass on which they stood, centred all their attention 

 on the eccentric capers of the doe. Not requiring 

 venison, I came forth from my shelter, and the timid 

 creatures trotted off, stopped, moved on a few more 

 paces, and ultimately disappeared. On reaching the 

 spot where the pantomimic performance had been 

 carried on, I found a large yellow rattlesnake, so 



