806 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
either wholly or partially barren, and their progeny in a few 
generations become so enfeebled as to die out altogether. But 
we have seen that a few do apparently retain much of their 
native vigor, and reproductive powers, which they transmit in a 
large degree to their descendants. ‘* Gipsy,” a favorite doe 
now ten years old, taken in the wild state when a fawn, did, 
for several years at least, produce healthy vigorous twins, al- 
though she rarely got arboreous food, except what was broken 
from the trees by storms, or fell in the course of nature, — for in 
the North and South Parks the deer have killed off all the 
shrubbery, which was there originally, and while the deterioration 
in vigor and reproductive powers was not observable, was very 
abundant. I do not despair of finally producing a race of deer 
that will be both healthy and prolific in domestication, and that, 
too, when confined entirely to herbaceous food. To accomplish 
this, I have no doubt much weakness must be eliminated from 
the stock, but nature is doing that, and if but some survive the 
test then is the experiment a success. Could we go far enough 
back in history to learn of the particulars of the domestication of 
many of our domestic animals, which now breed and thrive well 
in our hands, we should probably find some such experience as I 
have related. However, if this be generally true of the quad- 
rupeds, it is scarcely so of all the feathered tribes. My experi- 
ments with the wild turkey show that the wild birds reared in 
domestication are remarkably vigorous and healthy, much more 
so than the common domestic turkey, while they are equally pro- 
lific, though in many instances both the male and female are a 
year later in breeding than the domestic bird. Probably, as a 
general rule, the reproductive powers of birds are less impaired 
by domestication than are those of quadrupeds. 
The young bucks seem to quite forget their dams after they 
are one year old. The habits of the wild’ deer are not very 
much modified by partial domestication, although after the rut- 
ting season is over they seem to be more gregarious in a wild 
state than in the parks; yet solitary deer are frequently met 
with in the prairies and in the forests. 
There is no recognized monarch among the bucks, though 
where they meet frequently a superiority is soon settled which, 
for the time, is respected ; but if separated for some months a 
new contest is required to determine which is the better deer. 
The passage betyveen the North and East Park was closed dur- 
ing the last summer, and there was a large buck in each of 
