CHAPTER II. 



FIRST DEER IN AMERICA. 



ALTHOUGH this is but a reminiscence, and one of a day 

 a few years gone by, the feelings, incidents, et ceteras, 

 are much the same as every tyro experiences when he 

 sees the first antlered monarch of the woods prostrated 

 at his feet. How many lately have written of their 

 advent in salmon fishing, their novitiate with dog and 

 gun on the boundless heather or golden stubble ; but 

 not one has touched on the pleasurable sensations first 

 experienced as you draw the keen edge of your 

 hunting-knife across the graceful, swan-like neck of 

 the deer that has succumbed to your skill as a shot, or 

 your knowledge of the hidden mysteries of venery. 



While visiting in Canada West, I chanced to make the 

 acquaintance of a young Highlander ardently devoted 

 to the chase, and who, when he found that I was also a 

 would-be disciple of the chaste Diana, at once proposed, 

 as the season was suitable and business affairs did not 



