874 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



barren tracks, in the west and north-west division of the 

 interior, to bring forth and rear their young amidst the 

 profusion of lichens and mountain herbage, and where 

 they were, comparatively with the mountain lowlands, 

 free from the persecution of flies. When the first frosts, 

 as now in October, nip vegetation, the deer immediately 

 turn towards the south and east, and the first fall of 

 snow quickens their pace in those directions, as we now 

 met them, towards the low grounds where browse is to 

 be got, and the snow not so deep over the lichens. In 

 travelling, herd follow herd in rapid succession over the 

 whole surface of the country, all bending their course 

 the same way in parallel lines. The herds consist of 

 from twenty to two hundred each, connected by stragglers 

 or piquets, the animals following each other in single 

 files, a few yards or feet apart, as their paths show; were 

 they to be in close bodies, they could not graze freely. 

 They continue to travel south-eastward until February 

 or March, by which time the returning sun has power to 

 soften the snow, and permit of their scraping it off to 

 obtain the lichens underneath. They then turn round 

 towards the west, and in April are again on the rocky 

 barrens and mountains where their favourite mossy food 

 abounds the most, and where in June they bring forth 

 their young. In October the frosty warning to travel 

 returns. They generally follow the same routes year after 

 year, but these sometimes vary, owing to irregularities 

 in the seasons, and interruptions by the Indians. Such 

 are, in a general view, the courses and causes of the 

 migrations of the deer, and these seem to be the chief 

 design of animated nature in this portion of the earth. 

 Lakes and mountains intervening^, cause the lines of the 



