NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Stag-hunting in Louisiana. 



cow and sheep-kind having theirs considerably 

 iwider. 



In Louisiana the natives hunt these animals 

 both for food and amusement; the chase being 

 sometimes undertaken in companies, and some- 

 times alone. The hunter, who goes out alone, 

 furnishes himself with a gun, a branch of a tree, 

 and the dried head of a stag, having part of the 

 skin of the neck attached to it. On discovering 

 the objects of his pursuit, he conceals himself 

 behind the bush, which he carries in his hand, 

 and approaches very gently till he is within shot. 

 Jf the animal appear alarmed, the hunter imme- 

 diately counterfeits the deers' call to each other, 

 and holds the head just above the bush; then 

 lowering it towards the ground, and lifting it by 

 turns, he so completely deceives the stag with 

 the appearance of a companion, that he seldom 

 fails to approach it, arid thus becomes an easy 

 victim. 



When a large party is formed on these occa- 

 sions, the hunters form a wide crescent round 

 one of the animals, the points of which may be 

 half a mile asunder. Some of them approach 

 towards the stag, which runs, affrighted, to the 

 other side; but finding them advancing in that 

 quarter also, he immediately rushes back again. 

 In this manner he is driven from side to side, 

 the hunters gradually approaching, and closing 

 into a circle, till at length he is so much e#- 



