322 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
strange but well authenticated taste of the former animal by 
devouring the lemming ;! otherwise the habits of the two vari- 
eties are perfectly similar as regards food.” 
Speaking of the Barren-ground Caribou, Sir John Richardson 
says: ‘‘The lichens on which the Caribou feed whilst on the 
barren grounds are the Cornicularia tristis, divergens, and ochri- 
leuca, the Cetraria nivalis, cucullata, and Islandica, and the 
Cononyce rangiferina.” 
Tn the southern part of their range, to which they retire in the 
winter season, these deer find forests bordering the barren 
grounds, and no doubt here they partake more or less of ar- 
boreous food. 
Of the four other species of deer it may be said in general that 
they all affect the same kinds of food. The leaves and twigs 
of trees and shrubs, all the finer kinds of grasses, at least a great 
variety of weeds, especially the bitter sorts, the seeds of grasses, 
the fruits of trees, as the wild apples, and plums, and cherries, 
acorns, and all sorts of berries and rose apples, and all sorts of 
grain and seeds to which they have access, are freely taken by 
them. The Virginia Deer alone seems capable of masticating 
the hickory nut, and it is with difficulty that the Mule Deer and 
the Acapulco Deer can masticate the well dried grains of the 
maize, but they soon learn to swallow them whole, and after 
they have been well softened in the stomach they are ruminated 
with great apparent satisfaction. 
In my grounds, they will only eat the blades and heads of the 
coarser hay, like timothy and clover, and I find it best to provide 
a good supply of fine rowen hay for their use, or better yet, a 
fodder consisting mostly of weeds, no matter how large and 
coarse, well cured. This they will pick over with great satisfac- 
tion. A good coat of blue grass under the snow is the best pro- 
vision for a winter supply for them. This they reach with great 
facility by scraping away the snow; but with all this, no matter 
how abundant, they do not consider themselves well used without 
a ration of corn every day in the winter. I have never seen any 
of the deer ruminating, except when lying down. All are fond 
of salt, and they should have that condiment always accessible, 
and even then the want of an abundance of arboreous food seems 
to impair their health and vigor. 
1 I frequently meet with the statement, even in respectable works on natural his- 
tory, that the Lapland reindeer are in the habit of devouring the lemming, but I do 
not remember to have met the statement by any one that he has actually seen it 
done, so that I do not really know how authentic the statement is. 
