270 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
C. — There is some animal in the oat field : don't you 
see its brown back above the tops of the grain ? 
F, — Ha ! it is a Deer ( Cervus Vio^ginianus ) ; they often 
come out of the woods to feed on the standing grain at this 
season : but it is not very usual for them to come in the day- 
time. Let us approach cautiously, and we may get a view of 
it without alarming it. They are very fond of salt^ and I 
have been told that farmers sometimes sprinkle a little about 
the place where they have been seen, so that if they return 
and find the salt, they may be induced to repeat their visits 
to the spot, while the farmer lies in wait with his rifle. 
C, — It has taken the alarm. How jealously it looks 
round ! and now, there it goes off to the woods. How grace- 
ful its motions are ! it does not run, but proceeds by light 
bounds : — now it is lost in the forest. It is a doe, as it has 
no horns. 
F. — This species is found from the St. Lawrence to the 
Gulf of Mexico. — I once saw a young tame one in the State 
of Alabama, which was allowed the range of a large field, 
and would often come to the house, and prance about the 
lawn. I could not help admiring the beauty of the animal, 
and the grace of every motion. It would approach me if I stood 
quite still, stretching out its pretty head, and taper neck, to- 
w^ards my hand ; but it was so extremely timid, that at the 
slightest stir, its whole body and every limb would start, and 
on the least motion it would bound away, then stop, and turn, 
and look again. When standing still, it would be continually 
starting in this way, and when it trotted or walked, it lifted 
its little feet so high, and bent its slender limbs as if motion 
itself were a pleasure. It would occasionally stand a few 
moments, with one fore-leg bent up, the hoof nearly touching 
the belly. Its long and graceful ears were almost ever in 
motion, now directed forwards, now backwards, now erect, 
to catch the slightest sound. The large swimming black eye 
