AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
and black, towards the tips; belly and vent white, slightly 
streaked with pale orange; legs black; bill of the true 
Muscicapa form, triangular at the base, beset with long 
bristles, and notched near the point. The female has not 
the rich aurora band across the wing; her back and crown 
is cinereous inclining to olive; the white below is not so 
pure; lateral feathers of the tail and sides of the breast 
greenish-yellow; middle tail feathers dusky brown. The 
young males of a year old, are almost exactly like the fe- 
male, differing in these particulars, that they have a yel- 
low band across the wings which the female has not, and 
the back is more tinged with brown; the lateral tail fea- 
thers are also yellow; middle ones brownish-black; inside 
of the wings yellow. On the third season they receive 
their complete colours; and as males of the second year, 
in nearly the dress of the female, are often seen in the 
' woods, having the same notes as the full plumaged male, 
it has given occasion to some people to assert, that the 
females sing as well as the males; and others have taken 
them for another species. The fact, however, is as I have 
stated it. This bird is too little known by people in gene- 
ral to have any provincial name.—ZJ0. 
DEER HUNTING IN SOUTH AMERICA. 
As the haunts of the Fallow-Deer or Venays, are 
generally far from the abodes of men, and as they live in 
continual alarm from the depredations of the host of ene- 
mies, beasts, and birds of prey, and even reptiles, that 
beset them, but for the extraordinary instinct, or sagacity 
nature has endowed them with, for their preservation, the 
race must long since have been extinct. The impenetra- 
ble mountains of the Cordilleras are inhabited by immense 
herds of these animals, a species of the stag-kind, also, 
sometimes herds amongst them, though, as there seems a 
great aversion to this commixture, it must be considered 
as dictated by some necessary or instinctive policy. In 
those haunts are also to be met the Cabia Montes or 
Mountain-Goat, so much admired for its symmetry of 
form and delicious flavour. The intricate and steep path- 
ways leading to their couching haunts, are mostly in clefts 
of rocky precipices, inaccessible to beasts of prey; and 
even a nimble dog can scarcely skip from rock to rock, to 
the outposts where their videttes are placed. Should any 
of them venture, they soon have occasion to repent their 
temerity. 
It is not uncommon to see the jaguar, the tiger, &e. who 
have the hardihood to attack their outposts, hurled by the 
87 
butting sentinels, the horned patriarchs of the flock, down 
a precipice of five or six hundred feet: so that, unless im- 
pelled by extreme hunger, they never attack them, except 
in their more open pastures. As those ravenous creatures 
are dormant during the day, the Deer are then partly secure. 
At night a straggler from the community is sure of its fate, 
as the jaguars hunt in packs, and are very quick-scented. 
One trait of the South American Deer is worthy of notice. 
In Europe a hunted Deer is driven from amongst the herd, 
and abandoned to its fate: here, the guardians of the flock, 
succour even a stranger of theircommunity. I apprehend, 
that during the fawning season, the females and fawns suf- 
fer more than the males, as the young are obliged to be 
deposited in thickets, and the eagle and vulture are always 
watching over head. The large brown snake isalso a great 
destroyer of them, but the jaguar and wild-cat are their 
worst enemies. There are about four bucks to one doe in 
the herd, which shows what destruction there must be of 
the latter. The colours of the Deer are various, and mostly 
beautifully dappled upon yellow, white, and dun. The 
stag is generally of a dusky brown. Hunting those ani- 
mals is a source both of amusement and emolument to the 
Indian tribes in high latitudes, and they may be said to 
have brought it to high perfection. Having ascertained 
the haunts of the animals for about a week, the whole tribe 
assemble before day-break; some ascend the highest trees 
to mark their progress; others couch themselves under 
leaves, so as to impound them when they betake them- 
selves to their fastnesses; then the whole tribe, men, 
women, and boys, stretch over a vast tract of country, and, 
assisted by their curs and horns, make every kind of hideous 
noises, obliging them to quit their grazing spots while the 
dew is on the ground. As the Deer assemble, they form in 
complete marching order, preceded by the elder or patri- 
archs, while the bucks of the second class bring up the 
rear, to protect the females and young, and repel any at- 
tacks. In this manner they arrive at their haunts; while 
the Indians, advancing in all directions, prevent their re- 
treat, by closing up all the embouchures or openings, and 
while the Deer are forming in battle-array, prepare the in- 
struments of destruction, viz. large lances, resinous torches, 
and nooses fixed to long poles. The women are also 
busy stuffing jaguar and tiger skins. The Indians having 
made proper crevices dug into the grit and brown rock 
which form the path, advance. The images of the wild 
beasts are now presented to intimidate the Deer from break- 
ing, which the bucks no sooner perceive than they make 
a violent effort to strike them into the gulf,—their ani- 
mosity to those beasts being such, that they often pass or 
leap over aman to get at them. The Indians then strike, 
and hurl them into the abyss below, where the women are 
