THE VIRGINIA DEER. 189 



of Deer — the swamp Deer and the upland Deer. Some of 

 them tell us that the swamp Deer has longer legs and a 

 longer, more slender body than the upland Deer. Others, 

 again, give us exactly the opposite statement. Still others 

 tell us that they have killed what they term crosses between 

 these two varieties. In the Far West we occasionally hear 

 of crosses between the Mule Deer and the Virginia Deer. 



In Michigan and Wisconsin, albinos are killed occasion- 

 ally, and many native hunters believe, religiously, that 

 these constitute a distinct species; that should a white buck 

 and a white doe mate, the result would be a white fawn. 

 But all these theories are knocked in the head* occasionally 

 by some one seeing or killing a white doe with a fawn by 

 her side of the usual color, or vice versa. In two instances 

 that have come to my knowledge, a doe and two fawns have 

 been seen together, one of the latter being white and the 

 other two members of the family being of the regulation 

 color. Albinos, in any species of quadruped or bird, where- 

 ever found, are simply a freak of nature, and not the result 

 of heredity. Size, color, length of legs, and shape of body 

 may, and do, vary widely in specimens of the Virginia Deer, 

 as in many other wild animals, without constituting distinct 

 varieties or species. These variations are due only to 

 individual characteristics, and not to natural and fixed laws. 

 It would be as absurd to say that all horses must be of the 

 same size, shape, and color, as that all Deer of this or any 

 other given species must be so. 



The- vitality of the Virginia Deer is a subject of wonder 

 to men who have hunted it. In this respect it ranks second 

 only to the Antelope. 



The negroes of the South frequently erect scythes or 

 sharp stakes in their runways, knowing that the Deer, in 

 leaping over some log or fence, will be so mutilated that he 

 will drop within half a mile. Thus many a cabin, without 

 labor on the part of its occupants, is kept supplied with 

 venison. 



Market-hunters have well-nigh exterminated the Deer in 

 the Adirondacks. When they think that they are safe from 



