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Sierra Club Bulletin. 



well dulls the sense of taste. The gourmand becomes 

 more and more dependent upon condiments and highly 

 seasoned dishes for his satisfaction ; the things which can 

 gratify his cravings become elaborately artificial, and it 

 is almost an axiom that a jaded palate requires a more 

 and more trenchant lash; particularly in hot countries 

 men abuse condiments. I believe that, aided by the 

 power of scent, deer can discriminate between fine shades 

 of difference almost, if not quite, imperceptible to our 

 palates. Their food is not defiled, as much of ours must 

 be, by contact with other individuals of their own species. 

 They gather the finest, freshest, newest growth of herb- 

 age;, daintily plucking a sprig or a leaf here and there. 

 They are creatures of intelligence and of great zest in 

 living, and their dearest delight is to eat, and to eat 

 the best which the forest affords. Time is no object 

 to them. They give many hours daily to the gratifi- 

 cation of their desire for food, whereas humans take 

 an infinity of pains in preparation, and in getting the 

 food to eat, in earning their living, but after all allow but 

 brief time for its enjoyment. As compared with man's 

 hasty and wolflike manner of bolting his food during a few 

 minutes, often in hateful surroundings, three times a day, 

 these dainty creatures are true epicures. They have mas- 

 tered the difficult and refined art of eating slowly, far 

 more satisfactory than our method, whether health or 

 pleasure be at stake. 



Up among the pines and the oaks, in the summer 

 range of the deer, when one looks for a good deer country, 

 he will find it where the buckthorn grows in abundance, 

 the wild lilac and the oak. The deer are fastidious in their 

 choice of viands; any one who thinks that they munch 



