FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



167 



There was also a noticeable lack of vigor, a degeneration in the new stock, and 

 decrease in reproduction, that we attributed to the lack of natural arboreous food. 



Like many other animals the deer are very fond of salt ; and in regions where 

 there are saline springs, or earthy substances impregnated with salt, they will frequent 

 such places at night to lick the stones, earth, or roots of trees. Hence the phrase, 

 "salt licks," or "deer licks." There are no natural salt licks in the Adirondacks; 

 but crafty and unprincipled hunters often make artificial ones there, in order to carry 

 on this unlawful method of hunting. 



Our northern deer frequent the lakes and streams, spending much of their time in 

 lingering along their shores. They evince a desire for such places, not so much for 



SWIMMING BUCK. 



quenching thirst — for the woods are full of springs — as for the evident pleasure they 

 take in wading or swimming. A well-watered country seems necessary for their 

 best development, and the superiority in size of our Adirondack deer over its species 

 elsewhere in the United States may be attributed in part to the extraordinary 

 advantages which they enjoy in this respect. In addition to the nutritious food 

 afforded by aquatic vegetation, these water areas enable the animal to gratify its 

 natural instincts for swimming and wading. 



In the summer months, when annoyed and goaded by the deer flies, black flies, 

 mosquitoes, midges and other merciless insects, that bite and sting despite the thick 

 coating of its hair, the deer plunges into the cool and quiet lake, and submerging his 



