64 DUVAR ON ADDITIONS TO GAME OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



finement near Halifax, and have been afterwards seen, earning 

 apparently a honest livelihood. 



Suffering as our country is from the want of protection for its 

 game, it may be too sanguine to hope for any increase in the variety 

 of our deer. In wooded, sheltered and enclosed parks the fallow 

 deer might be reared as an ornament to grounds, although un- 

 fitted to range for itself in the woodland. But the ordinary Amer- 

 ican or Virginia deer (Cerviis Vir ginianus) has its range from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the borders of New Brunswick, increasing in 

 size and beauty as it approaches the north. There can, therefore, 

 be no possible hindrance to the introduction of this really valu- 

 able game into our coverts, where, according to the opinion of our 

 best sportsmen and most practical naturalists, it would multiply and 

 increase. The beautiful and hardy little roedeer of the Scottish 

 highlands (Capreolus caprce) is another most desu'able accession, 

 nor do I think it would object to make itself a habitat in the fir 

 copses of our secluded forests, A year or two of experimental 

 acclimatization within enclosures would prove its adaptability for 

 the woods.* Another of the deer family which would, probably, 

 naturalize more kindly, is the "wapiti," or Canadian elk (Elaphus 

 Canadensis — Ray,) of which Sir John Richardson gives the north- 

 ern range as the 56th or 5Tth parallel of north latitude. Previous 

 to the late unhappy war in the States, the Wapiti Avas semi-domes- 

 ticated in many parks in Virginia. The king of Italy has imported 

 a herd which are reported here to have taken kindly to the hills 

 of Lombardy. Beyond the ruminants named, the chances of 

 increase to our deer are unlikely. Attempts have been made in 

 the United States to extend the range of the pronghorn antelope 

 and Pacific blacktail deer, under climatic conditions more favorable 

 than ours, but without success. 



In bii'ds, there are a few likely to prove additions to our game, 

 all being of the sub-family of the Tctraotmue or grouse. Com- 

 mencing with the true ptarmigan — the lagopus alhiis of Linnaeus — 

 there could be little difficulty in introducing this fine although 

 rather sluggish bird on our higher barren grounds. A member of 

 the Institute states that it does exist (rare) on our hills. Indeed 



*I have lain out, in Scotland, on the watch for these pretty creatures in weather 

 quite as cold as it is in Nova Scotia in ordinary winters. 



