280 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



ability to hide in brush and grass is also remarkable. The 

 writer and a friend once nearly failed to discover a flock of 

 eight or nine tame deer that were lying in a field of very 

 thin timothy which was only about a foot high and where 

 there was no brush of any kind. 



FIG. 56. VIRGINIA DEER. 



The bucks alone are provided with antlers. The first 

 pair are mere spikes, but they increase in size and in the 

 number of branches until the buck is about five years old, 

 when each antler has about four prongs. In January or 

 February, according to latitude and season, the buck sheds 

 his antlers, and after three or four weeks the new antlers 

 begin to grow. They are covered with skin and a velvety 



