CAPTURE OF ANIMALS. 75 



the Black-Tailed Deer of the region west of the Missis- 

 sippi. These species differ but little in habits and general 

 characteristics, and a description of the Virginia Deer is suf- 

 ficient for the purposes of the trapper. The Virginia Deer 

 are found in nearly all the States of the Union east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and abound in both provinces of Canada. 

 They are gregarious in their habits, though frequently seen 

 alone. Their food in summer consists of twigs, grass, berries, 

 nuts, roots, acorns, persimmons, &c., and at that season they 

 frequent rivers and lakes to feed on water-plants, as well as 

 for the purpose of freeing themselves from insect pests. 

 They are also fond of visiting the pioneer's clearing and 

 appropriating his wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, turnips and cab- 

 bages. In winter they retire to the elevated ridges, where 

 maple and other hard-wood trees abound, the bark, twigs 

 and branches of which are at that season their chief support. 

 They form " yards " by trampling down the deep snows, and 

 live together in large herds, numbering sometimes thirty ani- 

 mals in a single " yard." These inclosures are enlarged 

 from time to time as the Deer require more trees for browsing. 

 Wolves and panthers are their most formidable enemies al- 

 ways excepting man. Packs of wolves frequently attack 

 them in their " yards," and sometimes when the snow is 

 deep and crusted over, whole herds are destroyed. Wolves 

 sometimes pursue a single Deer with the " long chase." In 

 summer a Deer thus pursued generally takes to the water, 

 and so baffles his pursuers ; but in winter when the streams 

 and lakes are frozen over, he rarely escapes. Panthers take 

 Deer by crawling within springing distance of them in their 

 " yards '' or elsewhere, or by watching and pouncing on them 

 from some cliff or tree, as they pass below. 



The methods by which men take Deer are various. They 

 are sometimes driven by dogs into rivers or lakes, and are 

 then overtaken and dispatched by the hunter in his canoe. A 

 favorite method is to shoot them at night at the places by the 

 water-side, where they resort to feed on aquatic plants and re- 

 lieve themselves of insects. For this purpose the hunter pre- 

 pares himself with a boat, gun, and lamp. The light is set on 



