802 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
THE COMMON DEER. 
By nature the Virginia Deer is more timid than either of the 
above. When raised by hand the male forgets that man is its 
natural enemy, and so ceases to fear him, and then he is very apt 
during the rut to become wicked and dangerous. This dispo- 
sition, however, is not manifested till he is three or four years 
old; nor is it universal, for I have had some that never be- 
came vicious even during the rut, though this is exceptional. 
But very few can be safely kept as pets after they become adult, 
unless one has proper facilities for confining them. Usually 
sawing off the antlers will so moderate their viciousness as to 
render them comparatively harmless, but not always. Gener- 
ally it may be said that the Virginia does never become vicious, 
though I have had one or two that would strike a child when 
feeding them, if one thought she did not get her share, or it was 
not given her as fast as suited her. 
When raised in the park by its'dam, the Virginia Deer never 
loses its fear of man so as to show the least disposition to attack 
him, or to come near enough to take food from his hand. Still 
there is a great difference among them in this regard, some 
venturing within a few feet to pick up corn from the ground, 
while others will always keep at a wary distance. They soon 
learn to come to the call of one who feeds them, and it is a pretty 
sight to see twenty or thirty, which were quietly lying down 
ruminating, at the first sound of the keeper's voice all jump to 
their feet like a flash, dash away without a moment’s pause, flags 
lifted high, and course among the trees and across the ravines, 
as if each life depended on being first. 
The great characteristic of the Virginia Deer is its natural 
wildness, which it never overcomes so as to lose its dread of man, 
unless taken when a few days old and fed by his hand and kept 
in constant and intimate association with him; for if separated 
from him but for a single season, associating with the wilder 
deer he forgets the kindness he has received, and resumes, though 
to a less extent than the others, his wild timidity. If taken very 
young, like all the other deer of the same age, it seems to know no 
difference between its captor and its dam. Pick one up from its 
leafy bed, and carry it a few minutes, petting it tenderly, and 
then set it down, and it will follow you with the same confidence 
it would its own mother; and then if this intercourse and kind- 
ness be continued, it bestows its confidence upon the hand that 
