EPISODES 469 



sought for the buck along the shadowy side of the hills. 

 Had it been the spring season, he would have led us 

 through some thick cane-brake, to the margin of some 

 remote lake, where you would have seen the Deer im- 

 mersed to his head in the water, to save his body from the 

 tormenting attacks of mosquitoes. Had winter overspread 

 the earth with a covering of snow, he would have searched 

 the low, damp woods, where the mosses and lichens, on 

 which at that period the Deer feeds, abound; the trees 

 being generally crusted with them for several feet from the 

 ground. At one time he might have marked the places 

 where the Deer clears the velvet from his horns by rubbing 

 them against the low stems of bushes, and where he fre- 

 quently scrapes the earth with his fore-hoofs ; at another 

 he would have betaken himself to places where persim- 

 mons and crab-apples abound, as beneath these trees the 

 Deer frequently stops to munch their fruits. During early 

 spring our hunter would imitate the bleating of the doe, 

 and thus frequently obtain both her and the fawn, or, like 

 some tribes of Indians, he would prepare a Deer's head, 

 placed on a stick, and creeping with it amongst the tall 

 grass of the prairies, would decoy Deer in reach of his rifle. 

 But, kind reader, you have seen enough of the still hunter. 

 Let it suffice for me to add that by the mode pursued by 

 him thousands of Deer are annually killed, many individ- 

 uals shooting these animals merely for the skin, not caring 

 for even the most valuable portions of the flesh, unless 

 hunger, or a near market, induce them to carry off" the 

 hams. 



The mode of destroying deer hy fire-light, or, "as it is 

 named in some parts of the country, forest-light, never fails 

 to produce a very singular feeling in him who witnesses it 

 for the first time. There is something in it which at times 

 appears awfully grand. At other times a certain degree 

 of fear creeps over the mind, and even aff'ects the physical 

 powers of him who follows the hunter through the thick 



