THE STAG. 13 



Mode of fording rivers Choice of food, &c. 



gazes upon the stranger with a kind of awk- 

 ward admiration ; and if he perceive neither 

 dogs nor fire-arms preparing against him, he goes 

 slowly forward, with apparent unconcern. Man 

 is not the enemy he is most afraid of; on the 

 contrary, he seems delighted with the sound of 

 the shepherd's pipe; which, on that account, is 

 sometimes used to allure him to destruction. 



In fording a wide river these animals are said 

 to rest their heads on each other's rumps. When 

 the leader is fatigued, he retreats to the rear, and 

 the next in succession takes his place. They 

 swim with the utmost facility, and Pontoppidan, 

 assures us, that in some instances, a male has 

 been known to venture out to sea in search of 

 females, and to cross from one island to another, 

 although at a distance of some leagues. 



The stag is extremely delicate in the choice of 

 his food ; which consists partly of grass, an4 

 partly of the young branches and shoots of vari-r 

 ous trees. When satisfied with eating, he re- 

 tires to the covert of some thicket to chew the 

 cud in security. His rumination, however, seems 

 performed with greater difficulty than that of the 

 cow or sheep; for the grass is not returned from 

 the first stomach without much straining, and a, 

 kind of hiccup, which is perceptible during the 

 whole time it continues. This is supposed to 

 proceed from the great length of the neck, and 

 the narrowness of the passage, all animals of the 





