146 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



As the Maral stag excels ours, so is it with the Siberian or large 

 roe-deer, which differs from ours in its larger growth and by the 

 high antlers with weakly developed burrs. Its specific independence, 

 however, is still a subject of controversy among taxonomists. In 

 Siberia it prefers the stretches of woodland which have begun to 

 recover from the effects of a conflagration, and in which the pichta 

 fir is abundant. It also frequents the fringes of the forest and 

 small woods, and ascends the mountains to considerable heights, not 

 unfrequently above the forest-line ; it may likewise pass into the 

 open steppes, associating on the heights with the steinbock and wild 

 sheep, and on the plains with the antelope. According to the nature 

 of the country, it undertakes more or less regular migrations, even 

 without being forced to these by forest fires, and in its wanderings 

 it will traverse wide stretches and cross broad rivers without hesi- 

 tation. In certain circumstances it appears in regions in which it 

 has not been seen for years, and from these centres it makes excur- 

 sions round about. In its wanderings it usually keeps to definite 

 roads, but is now and then forced to follow narrow paths. The 

 rocky and precipitous river-banks of the larger streams compel it 

 to make its way through a few cross-valleys and gorges, and this 

 necessity is often the animal's ruin, for the trapper rarely omits to 

 stretch his leading-fence across these runs, and to lay his pitfalls 

 fatally. Wolf and lynx press upon it at every season; Russians 

 and native Siberians likewise. Like other game it is hunted un- 

 sparingly; every circumstance is utilized and every trick is tried to 

 effect its capture. At the beginning of the thaw, when cold nights 

 have frozen the top layer of snow into a thin crust of ice, the hunter 

 sets off on horseback or on snow-shoes with a pack of nimble dogs; 

 he rouses the stag with his shouts and runs it down, fatiguing it 

 the sooner the harder the ice is, for, as the stag bounds, the crust 

 breaks under its slender hoofs, and its ankles are cut. In spring, 

 the hunters entice the doe by imitating the cry of the fawn, and the 

 buck is similarly allured in the leafy season by a skilful echo of 

 the doe's call; in the intermediate season and later, both sexes are 

 inveigled by special dainties; in autumn a drive is organized, or the 

 migrating deer is pursued in boats as he swims across the streams, 



