1386 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



The first time I saw a doe running with one 

 fore leg held up in front of her^ I thought that 

 she had been wounded, especially since she ran 

 this way until out of sight. Later I saw a doe 

 and two fawns feeding, and approached within 

 a few yards, up-wind. Finally the doe saw me 

 move, and gave one of their peculiar, whistling 

 snorts that can be heard a very long distance. 

 I stood motionless and she regarded me for 

 several minutes, but seeing no further move- 

 ment, was undecided whether to start feeding 

 again or not. I moved again, and she turned 

 and trotted off, holding one fore foot high in 

 air for several steps and then bringing it down 

 smartly with an impact that I could plainly 

 hear. She snorted several more times while 

 running away, and struck at intervals with one 

 and then the other fore foot. The fawns were 

 striking the ground also, and all three disap- 

 peared over the hill with white tails waving 

 from side to side, every hair erect. It was a 

 noisy and conspicuous cavalcade. I have seen 

 this time and again. When a bunch of deer is 

 started, the smaller fawns are often left behind, 

 or else remain out of curiosity. It may be that 

 they have so recently lost their baby spots that 

 they are undecided whether to run or freeze. 



The food of the white-tail consists for the 

 most part of small, black-thorn twigs which are 

 nipped off and swallowed, thorns and all. Later 

 they are chewed fine in the cud. The common 

 opuntia, or prickly pear, also is a favorite with 

 them. It is at first difficult to distinguish be- 

 tween the sound made by a steer breaking 

 "pear" and that made by a deer. Cactus is a 

 nourishing food, and during dr}^ years, ranch- 

 men send Mexicans over the range with gaso- 

 line torches to burn the thorns off of the pear. 

 Cattle and goats follow after the torch, finding 

 food and drink in the succulent leaves. Eating 

 unburned pear year after year generally kills 

 cattle, because abscesses form on their jaws. 

 Deer do not seem to suffer in this way. Deer, 

 wild cats, peccaries and rabbits all have a coat- 

 ing of thorns, large and small, immediately be- 

 neath their skins, resembling a coating of 

 felt with a generous interspersion of mesquite 

 thorns. I believe that these thorns remain in 

 the animal throughout life, as they lie in the 

 connective tissue immediately beneath the skin, 

 and do not cause inflammation. Besides, the 

 older the animal the more thorns he seems to 

 have. 



Mexicans make seccinas of deer meat, known 

 in the west as "jerkey." The meat is split into 

 thin sheets, sparingly salted and ^jeppered, 

 piled and allowed to drain for a few hours, and 

 then hung in the shade. The hanging portions 



are propped apart with small twigs so that the 

 air can circulate freely. Blowflies do not bother 

 the meat, but wasps eat their fill until it hard- 

 ens ; which in the dry season does not take long. 

 In rainy weather the meat must be hung in the 

 windiest place available. The seccinas are 

 either stored dry or, better yet, are toasted over 

 coals till brown, when they will keep indefinite- 

 Ij. Toasted venison is a delicious and sustain- 

 ing food, and can be eaten like stick candy, with- 

 out further preparation. Pinole in Texas is not 

 simply ground, popped popcorn as it is in the 

 west, but is made of equal parts of toasted and 

 ground seccinas, ground and parched corn and 

 brown sugar. This makes a remarkably sus- 

 taining and delicious food. 



White-tail deer seem to get along amicably 

 with their small neighbor, the collared peccary 

 or "jabaline" (pronounced hav-a-le-ne), as I 

 have seen eight or ten deer feeding among a 

 bunch of, possibly, twenty peccaries in thorn 

 brush. There are many stories current of the 

 ferocity of these little pigs. Many hunters 

 claim that they are dangerous, and attack when 

 wounded or to protect their young. Close in- 

 quiries failed to elicit any authentic informa- 

 tion of anyone actually being hurt by them, but 

 numerous stories prevailed of hunters being 

 treed by infuriated peccaries. Judging by the 

 rapidity with which these little pigs can travel 

 through the brush, I believe it would be very 

 difficult for an active man to climb a tree, even 

 were one right at hand, before being over- 

 taken. I have shot peccaries, and had a bunch 

 of from five to fifteen scurry past me under 

 the brush in open formation. Those that passed 

 nearby would see me, and snap their tusks and 

 raise their manes, and I believe that this helter- 

 skelter scurry for safety is often mistaken for 

 a charge when reall}^ the little pigs are merely 

 running in the direction in which they were 

 headed when startled. I am positive that I 

 could not successfully have escaped by climb- 

 ing a tree had they really been after me. 



The flesh of a young sow is delicious food, 

 but that of the older animals, or the boars, is 

 very musky and not fit for food. The musk-sac 

 must be removed from the animal as soon as it 

 is killed, if the flesh is to be used. 



Both sexes bear a scent-gland, analogous to 

 the oil sac of birds, on the pelvis, about eight 

 inches above where the tail should be. The 

 gland lies just below the skin and is not di- 

 rectly attached to the body. It is about two 

 inches in diameter and half an inch thick. The 

 musk is very strong and similar to that of the 

 skunk. I believe the scent is used as a warning 

 to pursuers, and also to enable the young to 



