DEER BLEAT. - 308 
' During the morning, Wagon brought in a doe and fawn. 
It made me sad to see the delicate little fawn stretched upon 
the grass, cold and dead. I enjoyed the rich, juicy flesh, ’tis 
true, but the means taken to procure it went against my 
feelings. 
Our Delawares, used a little instrument called a bleat, to 
lure the does ; it is made in two pieces, the lower one pre- 
cisely like the upper part of a clarionet; On this is fitted a 
hollow mouth piece, and by closing the end of the lower 
piece, filling the upper with air and opening and shutting the 
lower alternately, the cry of the fawn is imitated so exactly 
as to lure the doe within shot, thus making the affection of the 
mother for her young, the means of her death, a piece of bar- 
barity which I could not sanction, though I must confess my 
prairie appetite overcame my scruples under the influence of 
the savoury odour of the smoking haunch, 
It is not always consistent with safety to use the bleat in a 
wild country, as sometimes a panther or a bear may be at- 
tracted by the sound, and unless the hunter has his wits about 
him, he may suffer for his sport. 
The following incidents, which happened autiig a former 
expedition, will illustrate this. Captain Marcy, endeavoured 
to lure one of a herd of antelopes, that were feeding some 
distance from him, one day when away from camp, when just 
as he was in the act of firing upon one, which had been de- 
coyed within range of his rifle, his attention was drawn to a 
rustling in the grass, and to his i he saw a an enormous 
