216 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771, miscuously among the woods, as well as in the plains, and 

 "^^ ' along the banks of rivers, lakes, &c. the whole year. 



The old buck's horns are very large, with many branches, 

 and always drop ofFin the month of November, which is about 

 the time they begin to approach the woods. This is un- 

 doubtedly wisely ordered by Providence, the better to enable 

 them to escape from their enemies through the woods ; other- 

 wise they would become an easy prey to wolves and other 

 beasts, and be liable to get entangled among the trees, even 

 in ranging about in search of food. The same opinion may 

 probably be admitted of the Southern deer, which always reside 

 among [199] the woods; but the Northern deer, though by 

 far the smallest in this country, have much the largest horns, 

 and the branches are so long, and at the same time spread so 

 wide, as to make them more liable to be entangled among the 

 under-woods, than any other species of deer that I have noticed. 

 The young bucks in those parts do not shed their horns so 

 soon as the old ones : I have frequently seen them killed at or 

 near Christmas, and could discover no appearance of their horns 

 being loose. The does do not shed their horns till the Sum- 

 mer ; so that when the buck's horns are ready to drop off, the 

 horns of the does are all hairy, and scarcely come to their full 

 growth. 



The deer in those parts are generally in motion from East 

 to West, or from West to East, according to the season, 

 or the prevailing winds ; and that is the principal reason 

 why the Northern Indians are always shifting their station. 

 From November till May, the bucks continue to the West- 

 ward, among the woods, when their horns begin to sprout ; 

 after which they proceed on to the Eastward, to the barren 

 grounds ; and the does that have been on the barren ground 

 all the Winter, are taught by instinct to advance to the West- 

 ward to meet them, in order to propagate their species. Im- 

 mediately after the rutting season is over, they separate, as hath 

 been mentioned above. The old vulgar saying, so generally 



