THE : 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VoL. xiv. — JUNE, 1880. — No. 6. 
THE DOMESTICATION OF CERTAIN RUMINANTS 
AND AQUATIC BIRDS. 
BY A, E. BROWN AND J. D. CATON. 
The following correspondence will interest both naturalists and 
Sportsmen ; os 
ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN, 
PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY, Nov. 7, 1879. 
Hon. J. D. Caton. 
Dear Sir :—The large amount of information which I have 
gained from your valuable work on the Antelope and Deer of 
North America, together with your well known interest in all mat- 
ters relating to the domestication of the Cervide, leave me little 
hesitation in taking up a small portion of your time on the sub- 
ject. My experience with our mule deer (C. macrotis) has been 
very similar to yours, with the exception that the adults, two bucks 
and one doe, which were first procured by the Society four years 
ago, have all done well and are now in very ‘excellent condition. 
In the summer of 1878, we bred two fawns, and during the past 
Summer three more, two of these being twins, one of which died 
when two days old. The other four turned out just as yours have 
done; all were subject to diarrhoea, which was checked by the use 
of astringent food, as oak leaves and ragweed, to avoid as much 
as possible the giving of medicines, but in every case the disease 
returned. This summer I have regularly plied them with tonics, 
rst iron water, froma spring near the garden, then sulphate of 
quinia, and finally gentian powders, with good effect fora while but 
without affecting the general result. In each case I have found on 
post mortem examination, a similar condition of things—the diar- 
thoea resulted from cancer of the stomach (except in the sanii 
VOL. XIV.—NO, VI, 26 
