92 THE COMMON AMERICAN DEEE. 



the winter-green {Pyrola), the partridge-berry {Mlt- 

 chella repens), the deer-leaf (Hopea tinctoria), bush 

 honey-suckle (Azalea), and others. In spring and 

 summer it brouses on tender grasses, and near plan- 

 tations it commits great damage amongst the crops 

 of green corn, and is very fond of peas. In the 

 autumn the woods furnish it with abundant food, 

 in the shape of chestnuts, acorns, and beechmast, 

 which it shares with wild turkeys and other denizens 

 of the forest. And when the frosts of winter have 

 ripened the fruit of the Persimmon-tree, that becomes 

 a favourite food of the deer. 



Deer cannot exist long without water, being obliged 

 to visit some spring, or river, nightly for the purpose 

 of drinking. They are very fond of salt, and, like 

 many other animals, resort instinctively to saline 

 springs, or ^ salt-licks,' as they are called ; and thither, 

 too, the hunters go, and numbers of the animals 

 are killed. 



The timidity of the deer is equal to its swiftness, 

 and the hunter seldom experiences any danger, even 

 from a wounded buck, although a few instances 

 have been known of their attacking man. The 

 bucks fight furiously amongst themselves during the 

 rutting: season : for althouorh the animal has no 

 gall, there is a great deal of ' bitterness ' in his 

 composition when the mastery over a herd of does is 

 at stake, and the woodland glades have to witness 



