DISEASES OF THE DEER. 
It is only when the deer are in confinement that we can study 
the diseases to which they are subject and their mode of treat- 
ment. That they are liable to distempers in the wild state 
either epidemic or contagious, which sometimes carry off great 
numbers, we may not doubt, as we sometimes receive pretty well 
authenticated accounts of such calamities. Such accounts as I 
have noticed have, however, been confined to the Virginia Deer. 
If the moose or the caribou are in the wild state subject to dis- 
tempers I do not know it, and yet it isnot improbable that such 
calamities may sometimes befall them but have not been observed. 
The Wapiti are undoubtedly very healthy and hardy, and ca- 
pable of enduring great vicissitudes. I have for many years had 
large numbers, and am not aware that one was ever sick. If 
only they get enough to eat, it scarcely matters what, they re- 
main healthy and in good condition. 
With me the Mule Deer have not proved healthy. The first 
pair I procured, I turned into the park where a considerable 
growth of white clover had established itself among the blue 
grass. In about a month I observed them drooling, and exam- 
ination showed that both were badly salivated. This I attributed 
to the white clover, and I immediately turned them into the 
flower garden where they could not find the clover, but a great 
variety of other food. All the deer are very fond of flowers and 
flowering plants and shrubs. The female, which was the oldest 
and not so badly affected as the other, recovered in a few weeks, 
but the buck was too far gone; his teeth finally dropped out and 
he died. The doe was never again afflicted in the same way, 
—nor for that matter any other deer, — though she ran in the 
same grounds for several years thereafter. 
The next Mule buck I procured seemed quite healthy for sev- 
eral years; when at last, in the month of May, I found him in 
the East Park with hoofs grown to fully four inches in length, so 
that he could only walk with great difficulty and on his heels. I 
sawed about an inch from each toe, which enabled him to walk 
more comfortably, and turned him into the orchard. Although 
he seemed to eat and ruminate pretty well, still he grew worse, 
