346 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



takes no more pleasure in it than he would in weeding a bed of 

 onions, of course a study of the animals he kills would afford him 

 no pleasure, but to the cultivated mind capable of understanding 

 and appreciating the works of the Divine hand, the pleasures of 

 the pursuit are immeasurably enhanced by a capacity to under- 

 stand the object taken. 



No other genus of quadrupeds is distributed over so large a 

 portion of the earth's surface as the Cervidse, no other has so 

 largely contributed to the sustenance of uncivilized man, and the 

 flesh of no other is so generally admired as food. From the fact 

 that it has contributed moi-e than any other quadruped to the 

 support of savage life, it has been more the object of pursuit 

 than any other by uncivilized races. 



In the border settlements of our own country, the deer has 

 been an important source of food supply to our frontier settlers, 

 who might justly be called a race of hunters; very few indeed 

 have made it a constant business, but nearly all have made it an 

 occasional and incidental pursuit. 



From the earliest times to the present, the deer has occupied 

 the first rank as a game animal, affording exercise and excite- 

 ment to the sportsman. In Africa alone the deer are not abun- 

 dant, but the antelope, the buffalo, and the elephant, are there the 

 principal objects of pursuit by the savage and the civilized. 



In a very limited area in our own country, the bison is, or 

 was, more important than the deer, but the district is so small 

 where the bison is or was found in plenty, that it loses all com- 

 parison with the deer, which are abundant, in mountain and val- 

 ley, in forest and prairie, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 

 from Cape Horn to the frozen islands in the Arctic Sea. 



In savage life, without the means furnished by civilization, 

 the capture of the deer and other game was accomplished to a 

 considerable extent by bows and arrows, but chiefly by means of 

 traps or inclosures of various kinds, and the promptings of want 

 developed contrivances which insured a large measure of success. 

 These are all based upon the capabilities of the animals, de- 

 veloped by their habits, which were a life study of the Indian 

 hunter, and were comprehended by him in a remarkable degree. 



The principal of these, or at least the most important, are the^ 

 defect of vision and the acuteness of the senses of smell and of 

 hearing. These are characteristics which are common to all deer, 

 and must never be forgotten by thej^savage hunter or the civilized 



