CHAPTER XIY. 



A FLEET-FOOTED NEIGHBOR IN THE WOODS. 

 The Virginia Deer. 



To " run like a deer " means to run like the fleet- 

 est-footed member of that highest division of animal 



life in the world called 

 Mammalia. Now the 

 term Mammalia is a 

 significant one with a 

 world of meaning in it 

 which few, perhaps, fully 

 appreciate.* It means that 

 the closest possible relationship 

 exists between the mother and 

 her young. And perhaps one 

 of the most beautiful examples 

 of a mother and her young 

 among the animals is the soft-eyed deer and her 

 dainty, snow-spotted fawn. 



* The essential character of a creature belonging to the great 

 group called JIammalia is that it is wholly dependent upon its 

 338 



Head of a Deer about Ave 

 years old. 



