226 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



slaughter is commenced. Their whistle is most peculiar, and 

 differs widely from that of all other deer; indeed so strongly 

 marked is it that a person having" heard it once would recognize 

 it amongst the voices of a thousand animals. I never knew 

 a person who could imitate it well, and this has prevented 

 hunters from calling them as they do the moose and 

 other deer. The difficulty in imitating the call is due to its 

 varied character, it being composed of several parts. The first 

 part consists of a shrill and prolonged whistle, which some- 

 times sounds afar off, although the animal uttering it may be 

 very near a person, and this is followed by four or five deep 

 brays or grunts, which end in a low, soft, and musical 

 bellow, not displeasing to the ear, no matter how acutely 

 it may have been attuned to harmony and melody. I have 

 noticed as a faet that struck me as being peculiar, that the 

 bravest and largest wild animals always had deep voices, and 

 that they were generally melodious full of music as it were 

 while the small fry, which would run from a common cur, had 

 high, sharp voices. I have hunted with some of the bravest 

 men, the best scouts, and the most famous hunters in the 

 West, and I found that they also had heavy tones, as a rule ; 

 and I deduced from this that the highest order of animals, 

 those that were brave and daring, were always dee]) in voice, 

 and that their intonations never jarred on the ear. When I saw 

 that the heroes in an opera were the tenors, it struck me as an 

 odd idea that thin-voiced animals were seldom so courageous 

 in actual life as their deeper toned congeners, and this has 

 caused me to express it here, to see if it is in any way founded 

 on faet, or whether it is a mere artificial system of disnlav. 



*J It. 



If the males meet during these whistling tournaments long 

 and severe is the battle they wage, and the weaker often gives 

 his life to the stronger lor his presumption in rival gallantry. 

 The hinds bring forth their .young in May or June, but their 

 families are confined to one at a time, twins being unknown. 

 The calf, which is spotted like the lawn of the deer, is a 

 beautiful creature, and so active that it is able to run about 

 with its dam in the course of a few days after its birth. The 

 mother is very much attached to it, and fights bravely in its 



