A FLEET-FOOTED NEIGHBOR IN THE WOODS. 239 



quently tte case that he will attack a man and do 

 some fearful work with horns and sharp hoofs. In- 

 deed, the wild and rampant creature at this time for- 

 feits all claim to that mild and attractive disposition 

 which is his usual attribute ; his neck is greatly en- 

 larged, he fights furiously with his fellow bucks, and 

 sometimes loses his life in a desperate encounter 

 through the locking of the antlers. "When this hap- 

 pens in the wild woods the animals can not separate, 

 and both miserably perish of exhaustion and starva- 

 tion. What a strange tragedy of Nature ! Dr. Mer- 

 riam says that his father possessed a set of locked ant- 

 lers which he found on the frozen carcasses of two 

 deer which had perished on the ice in Pine Creek, 

 N. T. Audubon also states that he once saw three 

 pairs of antlers interlocked, and remarks upon the 

 pathetic sight the owners must have made as they 

 slowly starved in the midst of plenty. But Audubon 

 did not take into account the fact that exhaustion 

 shortened the animals' lives, and mercifully, there- 

 fore, the period of their starvation. 



As a rule, the female deer bears two fawns — one 

 is quite the exception — and these are born in the 

 month of May ; they are quick at making use of their 

 slender, long legs. The little fawii is prettiest when 

 he is about a month and a half old ; the sides are 

 spotted with white, the face is delicately graded with 



