6 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
is recorded. “ As we were descending from one of these 
ridges, our attention was called to an unusual noise, pro- 
ceeding from a copse of low bushes on our right, at a few 
rods from the path; on arriving at the spot, we found 
two buck deer, their horns fast interlocked with each 
other, and both much spent with fatigue; one in particular 
being so much exhausted, as to be unable to stand. As 
we perceived it would be impossible they should extricate 
themselves, and must linger in their present situation until 
they died of hunger, or were destroyed by the wolves, we 
despatched them with our knives, not without having first 
made an unavailing attempt to disentangle their antlers.” 
Mr. Say also appears to think that this is by no means 
an uncommon occurrence. 
The doe brings forth one or two, and sometimes, though 
very rarely, three fawns. When the period of parturi- 
tion comes on, she retires from the society of the young 
deer, in whose society she had spent the winter. She 
feels the tenderest affection for her offspring, and displays 
great sagacity in protecting and bringing it up. She 
carefully hides it in some dense thicket, from those 
numerous enemies of whom its life is in danger. Even 
the buck himself requires to be guarded against. But 
between courage and ingenuity, she proves herself a pow- 
erful protectress. In the defence of her young, she will 
sometimes oppose force to force in the boldest manner; at 
others, she, with the same unconcern for her own safety, 
offers herself to the chase, to mislead the hunter or beast 
of prey, from the covert in which she has secreted her 
young. 
Deer are supposed to live from thirty to forty years, 
though, judging from some instances of the longevity of 
the stag of Europe, (C. elephus,) it is probable that this 
is underrated. Pliny tells us, that more than one hundred 
years after the death of Alexander the Great, some stags 
were taken with golden chains about their necks, which 
appeared to have been put upon them by command of that 
hero. 
The mild and peaceful character of Deer, affords them 
no protection from the hostilities of rapacious enemies. 
Wolves and other beasts of prey destroy vast numbers; but 
their chief enemy is man, who wars with the savage 
animals in his own defence, tyrannises over the domestic 
because he finds their services useful, and pursues the 
gentle inhabitants of the forests, either for subsistence or 
amusement. From the earliest ages, the hunting of Deer 
has been pursued with eagerness, and many stratagems 
have been resorted to, for the purpose of slaying or cap- 
turing these timid animals. We cannot, at this time, allude 
to those employed in other countries, and will, therefore, 
confine our observations to such as have been successfully 
practised by our aboriginal tribes, and their more civilised 
successors. 
One mode practised by the Indians, is to imitate the cry 
of the male, or fawn. The voice of the male calling the 
female, is not very dissimilar to that caused by blowing 
into the muzzle of a gun or hollow cane, whilst that of 
the female calling the young, is ma ma, pronounced 
very shortly. This is well simulated by the native tribes, 
with a stem of the Heracleum lanatum, cut at the 
joint, leaving six inches of a tube; with this, aided by a 
head and horns of a full grown buck, which the hunter 
carries with him as a decoy, and which he moves back- 
wards and forwards among the long grass, alternately 
feigning the voice with the tube; the unsuspecting animal 
is attracted within a few yards, in the hope of finding its 
partner, when, instantly springing up, the hunter plants an 
arrow in his object. * 
They are also shot by cautiously approaching them 
against the wind, the extreme acuteness of their smell 
enabling them to detect the approach of any one, in the 
opposite direction, even at very great distances. Hunters 
have also taken advantage of the extreme predilection of 
these animals for salt, and destroyed great numbers from 
coverts established in the vicinity of natural or artificial 
salines, or licks. An old hunter, in this State, has informed 
us that he killed thirty Deer in one season by this means. 
Many are also shot by taking advantage of their custom 
of resorting to the water side, at certain times of the day. 
The Indians, according to Catesby, were also in the habit 
of encompassing a vast space of country, and driving the 
animals in to some strait or peninsula, where they became 
an easy prey. 
Notwithstanding the natural timidity of Deer, they will 
fight desperately, when wounded, or brought to bay. In 
this state they not only use their horns, but also inflict 
severe and oftentimes fatal wounds by leaping upwards and 
striking the hunter, on their descent, with the sharp edges 
of their hoofs. These wounds were formerly considered 
as peculiarly dangerous, particularly at certain seasons of 
. the year: thus, it is asserted — 
If thou be hurt with hart, it brings thee to thy bier, 
But barber’s hand will boar’s hurt heal, thereof thou need’st not fear. 
Whether this verse be founded on truth or fiction, it is 
certain, that the task of going in and killing a wounded 
Deer, is always attended with considerable peril. We are 
indebted to Mr. Titian Peale for an account of an adventure 
of this kind, which occurred to himself whilst attached to 
the Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Messrs. Peale 
* Richardson. Fauna, bor. Am. 
