ii8 DEER-STALKING 



desired locality. It is filling as well as nourishing, 

 easily found by the deer, and greedily eaten. There 

 is also no danger of losing any of it in soft snow, 

 though it is apt to be spoilt by rain. But there are 

 few forests where much bulky stuff can be conveyed to 

 the proper feeding places during deep snow when it 

 is mostly required, and fewer still when this can be 

 done without heavy expense. Beans and Indian corn 

 mixed form a nourishing and comparatively cheap 

 diet ; but I am given to understand that locust beans 

 are more commonly given than any other feeding 

 stuff, and no doubt they possess a sweet taste which 

 proves attractive to most animals. Indian corn is of 

 course the cheapest form in which artificial food can 

 be given. 



I have heard of three objections to the practice of 

 feeding deer in winter, i. That it undermines their 

 constitutions. 2. That if they get into the habit of 

 being fed they always expect it and do not take the 

 same trouble to provide for themselves as they would 

 otherwise do. 3. That the stronger beasts get all the 

 food which is laid down, while the weak deer, for 

 whose benefit the practice is mainly adopted, get 

 very little. 



In regard to the first two objections, it is very 

 likely that the deer which have been artificially fed 



