1 68 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



body entirely takes evident delight in swimming slowly about, safe for the time from 

 the myriads of his tiny persecutors. The does are frequently seen nursing their young 

 while standing in the shallow water along some river or pond; and one of the prettiest 

 sights in the woods is a doe at some secluded lake giving her twin fawns their first 

 lesson in swimming. 



Deer may be seen in summer at all hours of the day, oftenest at morning and 

 evening, feeding or wading in the shallow water along the shores of lakes or streams. 

 Mr. William M. Durant, the owner of Summer Park, in Hamilton county, writes me 

 that on his preserve he has seen as many as thirty at one time along the shores of one 

 small lake. But, owing to its nocturnal habits, the animal frequents the water in far 

 greater numbers at night, for then it goes there in search of drink and food. This 

 is particularly true of the nursing does which visit the waterside at night in great 

 numbers, far outnumbering the bucks in such places; and it is this which makes 

 night-hunting peculiarly destructive, for most every doe thus killed leaves two 

 unweaned fawns in the woods to starve. 



Deer cannot exist without water or melted snow. When the winter sets in early, 

 the freezing of the lakes and water courses compels them to travel about in search of 

 springs, or thin spots in the ice over spring-holes, where they can paw a hole through 

 the frozen surface with their sharp hoofs. In traveling on ice they seem to be able to 

 detect, by sound or otherwise, the thin places which will enable them by pawing a hole 

 to reach water. In 1893, while examining lands in Township 18, north of Rainbow 

 Lake, in company with a forester, I walked up the inlet of that lake over ice twenty 

 inches thick, following on our way the track of a buck whose erratic path indicated 

 that he was in search of thin ice and water. Keeping on his track a mile or so we 

 came to a spot where the animal's quest was rewarded by a place in which he had cut 

 a hole through the ice and drank. That the buck had found thin ice was further 

 attested a moment later by the sudden disappearance of the forester — "Tom" Powers 

 — who went through out of sight. The mercury that morning was 1 1 degrees below 

 zero, and scrambling out of his icy bath the forester started on a run for Wardner's to 

 change his clothes before they froze stiff and fast on his limbs. 



Although the Virginian or Common American Deer is described by the naturalists 

 as a gregarious animal, the Adirondack deer seldom congregate in herds or even small 

 groups except while yarding in the winter. At such times the males yard together as 

 a rule, and the females congregate by themselves also. Except in the rutting season 

 the sexes are seldom seen together in company. These deer-yards are made in time 

 of snow, and are located in places where there is a good supply of food near by. Paths 

 are beaten through the snow by the animals in all directions, along which they travel, 



