306 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



" Our last Deer, the Virginia Common, or, as it is 

 now to be called, American Deer, is the daintiest and 

 most lovable of all. Each one — stag, doe, or fawn — is 

 equally beautiful whether lying in some vine-shaded 

 haunt, sauntering toward a brook, standing in a clear 

 pool, as if looking at its own image, or, when startled, 

 flying over the fallen logs and underbrush, as if its 

 little feet scarcely touched the ground. 



" Its home is North America at large, if we leave out 

 the far north, so that its name is very suitable. Even 

 to-day, in spite of persecution, there are but few states 

 which have not a family or two of these gentle creatures 

 hidden away in some wood or valley. To me this Deer, 

 fine as its flesh is, has always seemed more of a pet than 

 a game animal — more like some intelligent though shy 

 friend than a creature to be hunted. 



" I have never shot one, even under bitter stress of 

 hunger, without regret, and if I stopped to think of its 

 appealing eyes and sensitive, quivering nose, the morsel 

 of venison for which I had worked so hard would fairly 

 choke me. To adapt a famous verse, — ' Its beauty 

 gives it the right to live.' Hunger, desperate hunger, is 

 the only excuse for killing such animals as these, and 

 as hunger makes man a savage, we must then expect 

 to find savage instincts in him. 



" Three feet high at the shoulder is this little Ameri- 

 can Deer, and the best runner among our fourfoots. 

 It is quite hardy, and may be seen in its high winter 

 haunts feeding as cheerfully on buds, moss, or beech- 

 nuts, pawed laboriously from under deep snow, as when 

 in its rich, summer, river pasturage of marsh grass, 

 Avater plants, and berries. Almost all wild animals love 



