AUGUST. 
271 
reminded me of the descriptions of that of the gazelle^ which 
I should think can scarcely be superior in beauty and softness. 
It usually carries its neck upright^ and there is a fairy light- 
ness and elegance in its whole appearance^ which make it 
the prettiest of pets. 
I have been informed by a neighbour that he once shot a 
deer_, which was running up a very steep hill : after receiving 
the ball^ it continued to run twenty or thirty yards, when it 
gave a vast bound sideways, and dropped dead. On exami- 
nation, the ball was found to have passed through the centre 
of the heart. It is no uncommon thing for deer, when pur- 
sued by scent-hounds, to leap aside from their course into a 
thicket, in hopes of lying concealed till the dogs pass by. 
They are said to shed their horns in spring, and to have an 
additional prong (I believe to a certain limit) every year. 
During summer the horns are small, and covered with a 
velvety skin. 
C. — It seems a pity to kill such gentle, inoffensive ani- 
mals, as their occasional trespasses are not worth mentioning. 
F, — I have known as many as seventy deer killed at a 
single hunt, in the south : this appears to me a useless waste ; 
the dominion over the inferior animals being given to man 
for the supply of his necessities, or for his protection : cer- 
tainly not for the wanton destruction of animal life. But 
might makes right " is too often the maxim acted upon, if 
not acknowledged. 
