and the Maritime Provinces. 



319 



At that period, on the contrary, deer were very scarce, and almost 

 ■unknown in many parts of the State. I can say that as late as the year 

 1880, or thereabouts, deer tracks had never been seen by me in Maine. 

 In Oxford and Franklin counties, especially, they were not known. Cari- 

 bou, as well, were an unknown quantity, practically speaking, there being 

 •but very few of them in the State. 



To-day an entirely different condition of things exists. The deer, 

 then so scarce, are now so plentiful that I can safely say there are more 

 deer than sheep in Maine at the present time. There is no county in the 

 State that is without them now, and the increase has been marked in the 



