260 



ANIMALS OF 



was red ; nevertheless, the greater number in 

 other countries are brown. There are some 

 few that are white; but these seem to have 

 obtained this colour in a former state of do- 

 mestic tameness. Of all the animals that are 

 natives of this climate, there are none that 

 have such a beautiful eye as the stag; it is 

 sparkling, soft, and sensible. His senses of 

 smelling and hearing are in no less perfec- 

 tion. When he is in the least alarmed, he 

 lifts the head and erects the ears, standing for 

 a few minutes as if in a listening posture. 

 Whenever he ventures upon some unknown 

 ground, or quits his native covering, he first 

 stops at the skirt of the plain to examine all 

 around ; he next turns against the wind to ex- 

 amine by the smell if there be any enemy ap- 

 proaching. If a person should happen to 

 whistle or call out, at a distance, the stag is 

 seen to stop short in his slow measured pace, 

 and gazes upon the stranger with a kind of 

 awkward admiration: if the cunning animal 

 perceives neither dogs nor fire-arms preparing 

 against him, he goes forward, quite uncon- 

 cerned, arid slowly proceeds without offering 

 to fly. Man is not the enemy he is most afraid 

 of; on the contrary, he seems to be delighted 

 with the sound of the shepherd's pipe; and 

 the hunters sometimes make use of that in- 

 strument to allure the poor animal to his de- 

 struction. 



The stag eats slowly, and is very delicate 

 in the choice of his pasture. When he has 

 eaten a sufficiency, he then retires to the co- 

 vert of some thicket to chew the cud in secu- 

 rity. His rumination, however, seems per- 

 formed with much greater difficulty than with 

 the cow or sheep ; for the grass is not re- 

 turned from the first stomach without much 

 straining, and a kind of hiccup, which is easi- 

 ly perceived during the whole time it con- 

 tinues. This may proceed from the greater 

 length of his neck and the narrowness of the 

 passage, all those of the cow and the sheep 

 kind having it much wider. 



This animal's voice is much stronger, loud- 

 er, and more tremulous, in proportion as he 

 advances in age ; in the time of rut it is even 

 terrible. At that season he seems so trans- 

 ported with passion, that nothing obstructs his 

 fury ; and, when at bay, he keeps the dogs 

 off* with great intrepidity. Some years ago, 



William Duke of Cumberland caused a tiger 

 and a stag to be inclosed in the same area ; 

 and the stag made so bold a defence, that 

 the tiger was at last obliged to fly. The stag 

 seldom drinks in the winter, and still less in 

 the spring, while the plants are tender and co- 

 vered over with dew. It is in the heat of sum- 

 mer, and during the time of rut, that he is seen 

 constantly frequenting the sides of rivers and 

 lakes, as well to slake his thirst as to cool his 

 ardour. Heswims with great ease and strength, 

 and best at those times when he is fattest, his 

 fat keeping him buoyant, like oil upon the 

 surface of the water. During the time of rut 

 he even ventures out to sea, and swims from 

 one island to another, although there may be 

 some leagues distance between them. 



The cry of the hind, or female, is not so 

 loud as that of the male, and is never excited 

 but by apprehension for herself or her young. 

 It need scarce be mentioned that she has no 

 horns, or that she is m<?re feeble and unfit for 

 hunting than the male. When once they have 

 conceived, they separate from the males, and 

 then they both herd apart. The time of ges- 

 tation continues between eight and nine 

 months, and they generally produce but one 

 at a time. Their usual season for bringing 

 forth is about the month of May, or the begin- 

 ning of June, during which they take great 

 care to hide their young in the most obscure 

 thickets. Nor is this precaution without rea- 

 son, since almost every creature is then a for- 

 midable enemy. The eagle, the falcon the 

 osprey, the wolf, the dog, and all the rapaci- 

 ous family of the cat kind, are in continual em- 

 ployment to find out her retreat. But, what 

 is more unnatural still, the stag himself is a 

 professed enemy, and she is obliged to use all 

 her arts to conceal her young from him, as 

 from the most dangerous of her pursuers. At 

 this season, therefore, the courage of the male 

 seems transferred to the female ; she defends 

 her young against her less formidable oppo- 

 nents by force: and when pursued by the hun- 

 ter, she ever offers herself to mislead him from 

 the principal objects of her concern. She 

 flies before the hounds for half the day, and 

 then returns to her young, whose lifr she has 

 thus preserved at the hazard of her own. 

 The calf, for so the young of this animal is cal 

 led, never quits the dam during the whole 



