302 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



THE COMMON DEER. 



By nature the Virginia Deer is more timid than either of the 

 above. When raised by hand the male forgets that man is its 

 natural enemy, and so ceases to fear him, and then he is very apt 

 during the rat to become wicked and dangerous. This dispo- 

 sition, however, is not manifested till he is thre^ or four years 

 old ; nor is it universal, for I have had some that never be- 

 came vicious even during the rut, though this is exceptional. 

 But very few can, be safely kept as pets after they become adult, 

 unless one has proper facilities for confining them. Usually 

 sawing off the antlers will so moderate their viciousness as to 

 render them comparatively harmless, but not always. Gener- 

 ally it may be said that the Virginia does never become vicious, 

 though I have had one or two that would strike a child when 

 feeding them, if one thought she did not get her share, or it was 

 not given her as fast as suited her. 



When raised in the park by its dam, the Virginia Deer never 

 loses its fear of man so as to show the least disposition to attack 

 him, or to come near enough to take food from his h;ind. Still 

 there is a great difference among them in this regard, some 

 venturing within a few feet to pick up corn from the ground, 

 while others will always keep at a wary distance. They soon 

 learn to come to the call of one who feeds them, and it is a pretty 

 sight to see twenty or thirty, which were quietly lying down 

 ruminating, at the first sound of the keeper's voice all jump to 

 their feet like a flash, dash away without a moment's pause, flags 

 lifted high, and course among the ti'ees ,and across the ravines, 

 as if each life depended on being first. 



The great characteristic of the Virginia Deer is its natural 

 wildness, which it never overcomes so as to lose its dread of man, 

 unless taken when a few days old and fed by his hand and kept 

 in constant and intimate association with him ; for if separated 

 from him but for a single season, associating with the wilder 

 deer he forgets the kindness he has received, and resumes, though 

 to a less extent than the others, his wild timidity. If taken very 

 young, like all the other deer of the same age, it seems to know no 

 difference between its captor and its dam. Pick one up from its 

 leafy bed, and carry it a few minutes, petting it tenderly, and 

 then set it down, and it will follow you with the same confidence 

 it would its own mother; and then if this intercourse and kind- 

 ness be continued, it bestows its confidence upon the hand that 



