200 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



spread the earth with a coveriBg of snow, he would have 

 searched the low, damp woods, wliere the mosses and lichens, on 

 which at that period the deer feeds, abound, the trees being 

 generally crusted with them for several feet from tlie ground. 

 At one time he might have marked tlie places where the deer 

 clears the velvet from his horns by rubbing them against the 

 low stems of bushes, and where he frequently scrapes the earth 

 witli his fore-hoofs ; at another he would have betaken himself 

 to places where percimons and crab-apples abound, as beneath 

 these trees the deer frequently stops to munch their fruits. 

 During early spring our hunter would imitate the bleating of 

 the doe, and thus frequently obtain both her and the fawn ; or, 

 like some tribes of Indians, he would prepare a deer's head, 

 placed on a stick, and creeping witli it amongst the tall grass of 

 the prairies, would decoy the deer within reach of his rifle. 

 But, kind reader, you have seen enough of the ' still hunter.' 

 Let it suffice for me to add that, by the mode pursued by him, 

 thousands of deer are annually killed, many individuals shooMng 

 these animals merely for the skins, not caring for even the most 

 valuable portions of the flesh, unless hunger or a near market 

 induces them to carry off the hams. 



" The mode of destroying deer by fire-light, or, as it is 

 named in some parts of the country, forest-light, never fails 

 to produce a very siagular feeling in him who witnesses 

 it for the flrst time. There is something in it which at 

 times appears awfully grand. At other times a certain degree 

 of fear creeps over the mind, and even affects the physical 

 powers of him who follows the hunter through the thick under- 

 growth of our woods, having to leap his horse over hundreds 

 of huge fallen trunks, at one time impeded by a straggling 

 grape-vine crossing his path, at another squeezed between two 

 stubborn saplings, whilst their twigs come smack in his face, as 

 his companion has forced his way through them. Again, he 

 every now and then runs the risk of breaking his neck by being 

 suddenly pitched headlong on the ground, as his horse sinks into 

 a hole covered over with moss. But I must proceed in a more 

 regular manner, and leave you, kind reader, to judge whether 

 such a mode of hunting would suit your taste or not. 



" The hunter has returned to his camp or his house, has rested^ 



