ANIMALS* 



323 



Kew Hampshire, as nearly as could be ascertained 

 by the skin, were as follow : 



Ft. 



The length of his body (including the head) 6 

 Circunnference of his body . . 2 1-2 



Length of his tail . . . 3 



legs about • . 1 



The colour along his back is nearly black ; on his 

 sides a dark reddish brown ; his feet black. He 

 seems not calculated for running, but leaps with smv 

 prising agility. His favourite focd is blood, which^ 

 like other animals of the cat kind, he takes from the 

 jugular vessels of cattle, deer, 6cc. leaving the car- 

 cass. Smaller prey he takes to his den; and he has been 

 known to carry off a child. He seems to be allur- 

 ed by fire, which terrifies all odier carnivorous ani- 

 mals, and betrays no fear of either man or beast. 

 He is found in the northern and middle states. * 



The deer^ cervus^ is one of our most common and 

 v.aluable animals. Iij the Spring he sheds his hair, 

 and appears of a light red ; this colour gradually 

 grows darker until Autumn, when it becomes a pale 

 or cinereous brown | and remains thus through the 

 Winter. 



His horns are slender^ round, projecting forwards, 

 and bent into a curve ; with branches or shoots on the 

 ii;iterior side. These branches do not commence 

 until the deer is three years old; from which period 

 a new one arises every year ; and by this circum- 

 stance the hunters compute their age. These horns 

 are cast every Spring; the new ones, in the course 



* Morse. 



