THE WHITETAIL DEER 197 



had been destroyed from among the neighboring moun- 

 tains. 



The whitetail was originally far less common in the 

 forests of northern New England than was the moose, 

 for in the deep snows the moose had a much better chance 

 to escape from its brute foes and to withstand cold and 

 starvation. But when man appeared upon the scene he 

 followed the moose so much more eagerly than he fol- 

 lowed the deer that the conditions were reversed and the 

 moose was killed out. The moose thus vanished entirely 

 from the Adirondacks, and almost entirely from Maine; 

 but the excellent game laws of the latter State, and the 

 honesty and efficiency with which they have been exe- 

 cuted during the last twenty years, have resulted in an 

 increase of moose during that time. During the same 

 period the whitetail deer has increased to an even greater 

 extent. It is doubtless now more plentiful in New York 

 and New England than it was a quarter of a century 

 ago. Stragglers are found in Connecticut, and, what is 

 still more extraordinary, even occasionally come into 

 wild parts of densely populated little Rhode Island my 

 authority for the last statement being Mr. C. Grant 

 La Farge. Of all our wild game, the whitetail responds 

 most quickly to the efforts for its protection, and except 

 the wapiti, it thrives best in semi-domestication ; in con- 

 sequence, it has proved easy to preserve it, even in such 

 places as Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Long Island 

 in New York; while it has increased greatly in Vermont, 

 New Hampshire, and Maine, and has more than held 

 its own in the Adirondacks. Mr. James R. Sheffield, 



