IN THE VELVET. 
UCH no doubt has been written, giving more complete 
information than I shall give in regard to the deer and 
caribou shedding their antlers each year, and the new 
ones coming on again in the spring and growing so fast, at 
the first, being covered with the velvet, so called, which is a 
short, fuzzy, velvety hair, covering the antlers until well 
grown. This is of a rather pretty, dark brown color, giving 
the buck’s head an odd look at first glance. The fact of their 
shedding their horns every winter is often questioned, and even 
disputed, by many unacquainted with these animals, declaring 
it would be impossible for them to grow such a set of antlers 
in one summer. One will ask you, why is it that in his 
travels through the woods in summer and fall of the year, he 
does not find the horns lying upon the ground? This is easily 
accounted for, as the woods are full of mice, and perhaps but 
few would believe what endless numbers there are; and the 
wood mouse is not hibernating, for no matter how cold or 
how deep the snow lies upon the ground, he is almost con- 
stantly running about beneath the snow in his numberless 
paths, feeding upon the plants, roots and the seeds from the 
