636 



.V. 1 77 'II. 1 L HIS TOR V. 



drags the one holding it all around the enclosure. It gives but half a 

 pint of very rich and strong-smelling milk. 



Besides the tame reindeer, the same region is occupied with large 

 herds of wild ones, which may contain two or three hundred individuals. 

 These are hunted for food, and also to replenish the domesticated breeds. 

 Besides, the Lapps allow their own herds considerable liberty at the 



Fig. 503. — Virginia deer (Cervus virginianus). 



breeding season, in the hopes that wild blood may be infused, a matter 

 of some importance, for domestication tends to render the reindeer smaller 



in size. 



Possibly the best known of all our American deer is the species known 

 as the Virginia deer, a rather inappropriate name, as the range of the spe- 

 cies is over the whole United States east of the Mississippi River. It is 

 a pretty, graceful form, of a chestnut-red above, and a cinnamon color 

 below, varying to a bluish gray in winter. It is now scarce in many 



