THE STAG, OR RED DEER. 565 



In winter it scrapes among the snow with its fore-feet, so as to lay bare the scanty vegetation 

 below. When alarmed or excited, it gives vent to its feelings in a peculiar loud whistling 

 sound, which on a clear quiet day may be heard at the distance of a mile. While uttering this 

 sound, the animal raises its head in a very peculiar manner, and seems to eject the cry by a 

 kind of spasmodic jerk. The flesh of the Wapiti is in great favor among hunters, while the 

 marrow-bones are prized as great dainties. The skin is also valuable, being employed in the 

 manufacture of moccasins, belts, thongs, and other articles where strength and flexibility are 

 required. The teeth are employed by the Indians in decorating their dresses, and a robe thus 

 adorned, which is in the possession of Mr. Audubon, was valued by its manufacturers as 

 equivalent to thirty horses. The horns are also employed for various useful purposes. It is 

 a remarkable fact, that in no two individuals are the horns precisely alike. 



The genus Dermis is represented in South America by nine species, and by about the same 

 number in North America. 



The Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) is the largest of the the Deer, save the Moose. This 

 animal has borne the designation Elk, and thereby is often mistaken for the Moose of Europe. 

 American naturalists have preferred to use the term Wapiti, as applied by the aborigines. 



As late as 1842 this noble beast was found in New York State. In the northwestern 

 counties of Pennsylvania it was common until lately. 



The Wapiti is more nearly allied to the Red Deer, or Stag of Europe. It is larger and 

 more imposing than the latter. It was once very widely distributed ; its range extending 

 from ocean to ocean, and reaching as far north as latitude fifty-seven. 



The Stag, or Red Deer, is spread over many parts of Europe and Asia, and is indigenous 

 to the British Islands, where it still lingers, though in vastly reduced numbers. 



In the olden days of chivalry and Robin Hood, the Red Deer were plentiful in every 

 forest ; and especially in that sylvan chase which was made by the -exercise of royal tyranny 

 at the expense of such sorrow and suffering. Even in the New Forest itself the Red Deer is 

 seldom seen, and those few survivors that still serve as relics of a bygone age, are scarcely to 

 be reckoned as living in a mid state, and approach nearly to the semi-domesticated condition 

 of the Fallow Deer. Many of these splendid animals are preserved in parks or paddocks, 

 but they no more roam the wide forests in unquestioned freedom. In Scotland, however, 

 the Red Deer are still to be found, as can be testified by many a keen hunter of the present 

 day, who has had his strength, craft, and coolness thoroughly tested before he could lay 

 low in the dust the magnificent animal, whose head with its forest of horns now graces his 

 residence. 



Formerly the Stag was placed under the protection of the severest penalties, its slaughter 

 being visited with capital punishment on the offender if he could be known and arrested. 

 Indeed, a man who murdered his fellow might hope to escape retribution except by the 

 avenging hand of some relation of the slain man, but if he were unfortunate or daring enough 

 to dip his hands in the blood of a Stag, he could hope for no mercy if he were detected in the 

 offence. 



All the ancient works on hunting are filled with the praises of the Stag, which is belauded 

 with a fluency of language and a fertility of expression that throw the modern sporting termi- 

 nology completely into the shade. Every minute particular concerning the Stag itself, or the 

 details of hunting, killing, cooking, and serving the animal is graced with its appropriate 

 phrase, and if a gentleman should have perchance misplaced or omitted one of these cere- 

 monious appellations, he would have been held in very low esteem by his compeers. 



Although the Stag has been several times partially domesticated and trained to run in 

 harness, it is a very capricious animal, and not a very safe servant. About the month of 

 August the Stag always becomes very much excited, as that is the time when he seeks his 

 mate, and during a space of three or four weeks the animal is testy and irritable in temper, 

 and prone to attack with a kind of blind rage every other animal except a female of his own 

 species. Comparatively tame Stags become dangerous at such a season, and have frequently 

 assaulted those human beings to whom they were formerly attached. The sad death of a 



