122 ANIMALS OF THE 



They are particularly fond of birch, pinks, and 

 parsley. When they are kept tame, they are fed 

 with lettuce and other garden herbs ; but the 

 flesh of such as are thus brought up is always in- 

 different. 



They sleep or repose in their forms by day, 

 and may be said to live only by night.* It is 

 then that they go forth to feed and couple. They 

 do not pair, however, but in the rutting season, 

 which begins in February ; the male pursues 

 and discovers the female by the sagacity of its 

 nose. They are then seen, by moon-light, play- 

 ing, skipping, and pursuing each other ; but the 

 least motion, the slightest breeze, the falling of a 

 leaf, is sufficient to disturb their revels ; they in- 

 stantly fly off, and each takes a separate way. 

 As their limbs are made for running, they easily 

 outstrip all other animals in the beginning ; and 

 could they preserve their speed, it would be im- 

 possible to overtake them : but as they exhaust 

 their strength at their first efforts, and double 

 back to the place they were started from, they 

 are more easily taken than the fox, which is a 

 much slower animal than they. As their hind- 

 legs are longer than the fore, they always choose 

 to turn up-hill, by which the speed of their pur- 

 suers is diminished, while theirs remains the same. 

 Their motions are also without any noise, as they 

 have the sole of the foot furnished with hair ; and 

 they seem the only animals that have hair on the 

 inside of their mouths. 



* Buffon, vol. xiii. p. 12. 



