How Animals Talk 



other deer were at the spring, they would throw 

 up their heads, set their ears at the dancing buck, 

 take a last quick sip from the spring, and move 

 aside as he jumped in to muzzle the mud as if 

 famished. For it was the mud rather than the 

 water which first claimed his attention, no doubt 

 because it held more of the magic salt. He often 

 gave the impression, as he approached in high 

 feather, that he had been tasting the stuff in 

 anticipation and could hardly wait to get his 

 tongue into it. 



The first time I saw that frisky performance I 

 went over to taste the mud for myself, but found 

 little to distinguish it from the mud of any other 

 peat-bog. The water from the spring was whole- 

 some, with a faint taste of something I could not 

 name; and I drank it repeatedly without learning 

 its secret. That it held a charm of some kind, 

 which chemistry might reveal, was evident from 

 the fact that deer came from miles around to enjoy 

 its flavor. Some of the trails could be traced 

 clear across the bog to distant ridges and a broken 

 country beyond; and in following these trails, to 

 learn what creatures used them and where they 

 came from, I repeatedly came upon a deer asleep 

 in his day-bed. Whether the animals couched 

 here before drinking at the spring, or after drink- 

 ing, or "just by happentry" I could not tell. 



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