388 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



wild turkey. Then it was he learned to use the rifle, and com- 

 menced the study of the habits of the various animals he hunted, 

 as much for sustenance as for the sport. He learned all their 

 hiding places and runways, and grew cunning in every mode of 

 their pursuit, and has watched the changes which new condi- 

 tions have introduced in the mode of hunting the different game. 

 These were frequently men of marked intellect and culture, and 

 their observations with tongue and pen have contributed mate- 

 rially to the cause of science. 



The mode of hunting the deer upon the prairies, or rather in 

 the prairie countries, is in many respects different from those 

 practiced in mountainous and timbered countries. Where prairies 

 predominate, as in Illinois, for instance, they are frequently dotted 

 with isolated groves, and are intersected by skirts of timber along 

 the borders of nearly all the water-courses which traverse the prai- 

 ries, so soon as the streams become large enough to arrest a prairie 

 fire. These groves are of various sizes, from a few acres to many 

 miles, and the belts of timber along the streams vary from a few 

 rods to miles in width. 



The real home of the deer is always in the timber, but he is 

 fond of visiting the prairies, and indeed at favorable seasons 

 spends much of his time there during the day at least, though 

 as a general rule he repairs to the timber to pass the night, un- 

 less indeed he is prowling about in the farmer's maize or wheat 

 fields, which he very much affects. Very often the deer may be 

 seen leaving the forests for the prairies in the gray of the morn- 

 ing and returning again in the dusk of the evening. Daring the 

 day, too, they ai'e often seen passing from one forest to another, 

 whether the intervening prairie be one mile or ten miles wide, 

 though generally where there are long stretches, they will stop 

 and rest on the way. They find much of their aliment in the 

 prairie grasses, but they will have their arboreous food if any be 

 accessible, and this they usually take in the timber in the night 

 time. Indeed they spend most of the day in repose, well se- 

 creted in the high slough-grass, or if the flies and mosquitoes are 

 troublesome they resort to the high prairies where the pests 

 are likely to be kept down by a smart breeze ; and there conceal 

 themselves in a clump of tall grass which may afford a partial 

 shade and there enjoy their quiet siesta. All these conditions 

 and habits the experienced sportsman has well and carefully 

 studied, and having observed the time of the day, the season of 

 the year, the state of the weather, the topography of the coun- 



