AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



and Dougherty, (one of the hunters to the expedition,) being 

 in search of Deer on Boyer River, one of the tributaries 

 of the Missouri, discovered a fine buck, which was wounded 

 by the latter in the shoulder, the animal, however, still 

 being able to run, was again fired at by Mr. Peale and 

 wounded in the fore leg of the opposite side; even this did 

 not wholly disable it, although it so considerably retarded 

 its progress, that they thought they should be able to run it 

 down and then despatch it; for the sake of greater speed 

 they laid down their rifles, and pursued it, armed only 

 with their knives. On coming up with the animal, it im- 

 mediately stood at bay, and for a long time frustrated every 

 attempt to wound it. Mr. Dougherty then determined, 

 whilst Mr. Peale engaged the attention of the Deer, to 

 throw himself under it, and in this position inflict the fatal 

 stroke. This he attempted, but the infuriated animal, 

 instead of leaping over him, as was expected, turned on 

 him, and wounded him with its hoofs, in the manner 

 already spoken of; whilst thus employed, however, Mr. 

 Peale closed with it, and was fortunate enough to disable 

 it so completely, as to rescue his companion from the im- 

 minent danger to which he had so rashly exposed himself. 

 Such was the force with which the animal struck, even 

 when thus severely wounded, that Mr. Dougherty's 

 clothes, including a thick blanket coat, were completely 

 cut through, and a wound inflicted on his side. 



The Common Deer is said by our hunters to display 

 great antipathy to rattle-snakes, and to destroy them by 

 leaping on them, and cutting them to pieces with their 

 sharp hoofs ; this fact, extraordinary as it may appear, is 

 too well authenticated to be doubted. Col. Keatinge, in 

 his travels in Spain, relates that the European Stag has the 

 same antipathy to vipers, and kills great numbers of them 

 in a similar manner. 



The Deer is sometimes domesticated, which can be 

 readily done, when it is taken young; it soon becomes 

 attached to its captor and will learn to follow him like a 

 dog. When they arrive at maturity, however, it is always 

 dangerous to approach the bucks during the rutting season, 

 as they will then attack every one, indiscriminately. 



The flesh of the Common Deer is well known to the 

 epicures of our large cities, in the autumn and winter, at 

 which times it is brought down in considerable quantities. 

 This animal also affords a valuable article of commerce, in 

 its skin, so well known under the name of buckskin. 

 These are in great demand, and we can form some compai'a- 

 tive ideas of the aggregate number, and great extension of 

 the species, from the quantity brought to our markets. 

 Pennant states, that as early as 1764, 25,027 skins were 

 shipped to England from New York and Philadelphia. 

 From the number annually destroyed, and the rapid settle- 



ment of the country, they are becoming much less common 

 than they were a few years since, although their destruc- 

 tion during the breeding season is prohibited by law. This 

 may preserve the race among us for a short time, but can- 

 not prevent their final extermination. Kalm says, that an 

 Indian, who was living in 1748, killed many Deer where 

 Philadelphia now stands. The Indians prepare these skins 

 for their own use, by scraping off the hair and fleshy mat- 

 ter, and then smearing them with the brains of the animal 

 until they feel soft and spongy, and lastly, suspending them 

 over a fire make of rotten wood till they are well impreg- 

 nated with the smoke. 



THE ANT-LION. 



The observations of the continental naturalists have 

 made known to us a pitfall constructed by an insect, the 

 details of whose operations are exceedingly curious — we 

 refer to the grub of the Ant-Lion, [Myrmeleon formica- 

 rius,) which, though marked by Dr. Turton and Mr. Stew- 

 art, as British, has not, (at least of late years,) been found 

 in England. As it is not, however, uncommon in France 

 and Switzerland, it is probable it may yet be discovered in 

 some spot hitherto unexplored, and if so, it will well reward 

 the search of the curious. 



The Ant-Lion grub being of a grey colour, and having 

 its body composed of rings, is not unlike a woodlouse 

 (Oniscus), though it is larger, more triangular, has only 

 six legs, and most formidable jaws, in form of a reaping- 

 hook, or a pair of calliper compasses. These jaws, how- 

 ever, are not for masticating, but are perforated and tubu- 

 lar, for the purpose of sucking the juices of ants upon 

 which it feeds. Vallisnieri was, therefore, mistaken, as 

 Reaumur well remarks, when he supposed that he had 

 discovered its mouth. Its habits require that it should 

 walk backwards, and this is the only species of locomotion 

 which it can perform. Even this sort of motion it executes 

 very slowly; and were it not for the ingenuity of its strata- 

 gems, it would fare but sparingly, since its chief food con- 

 sists of ants, whose activity and swiftness of foot would 

 otherwise render it impossible for it to make a single cap- 

 ture. Nature, however, in this, as in nearly every other case, 

 has given a compensating power to the individual animal, to 

 balance its privations. The Ant-Lion is slow — but it is 

 extremely sagacious; — it cannot follow its prey but it can 

 entrap it. 



The snare which the grub of the Ant-Lion employs con- 

 sists of a funnel-shaped excavation formed in loose sand, at 

 the bottom of which it lies in wait for the ants that chance to 

 stumble over the margin, and cannot, from the looseness of 



