238 Life of Audubon. 



pose he hangs it upon the branch of a tree. When the 

 skin is removed, he cuts off the hams, and abandoning 

 the rest of the carcass to the wolves and vultures, re- 

 loads his gun, flings the venison, enclosed by the skin, 

 upon his back, secures it with a strap, and walks off in 

 search of more game, well knowing that in the immedi- 

 ate neighborhood another at least is to be found. 



" Had the weather been warmer, the hunter would 

 have sought for the buck along the shadowy side of the 

 hills. Had it been the spring season, he would have led 

 us through some thick canebrake, to the margin of some 

 remote lake, where you would have seen the deer 

 immersed to his head in the water, to save his body from 

 the tormenting mosquitoes. Had winter overspread the 

 earth with a covering of snow, he would have searched ■ 

 the low, damp woods, where the mosses and lichens, on 

 which at that period the deer feeds, abound, the trees be- 

 ing generally crusted with them for several feet from the 

 ground. At one time he might have marked the places 

 where the deer clears the velvet from his horns by rub- 

 bing them against the low stems of bushes, and where he 

 frequently scrapes the earth with his fore-hoofs; at 

 another he would have betaken himself to places where 

 persimmon and crab-apples abound, as beneath these trees 

 the deer frequently stops to munch their fruits. During 

 early spring our hunter would imitate the bleating of the 

 doe, and thus frequently obtain both her and the fawn ; 

 or, like some tribes of Indians, he would prepare a deer's 

 head, placed on a stick, and creeping with it amongst the 

 tall grass of the prairies, would decoy the deer within 

 reach of his rifle. But, kind reader, you have seen 

 enough of the ' still hunter.' Let it suffice for me to add 

 that, by the mode pursued by him, thousands of deer are 

 annually killed, many individuals shooting these animals 

 merely for the skins, not caring for even the most valua- 



