THE STAG , OR RED DEER. 
565 
In winter it scrapes among the snow with its fore-feet, so as to lay bare the scanty vegetation 
below. When alarmed or excited, it gives vent to its feelings in a peculiar loud whistling 
sound, which on a clear quiet day may be heard at the distance of a mile. While uttering this 
sound, the animal raises its head in a very peculiar manner, and seems to eject the cry by a 
kind of spasmodic jerk. The flesh of the Wapiti is in great favor among hunters, while the 
marrow-bones are prized as great dainties. The skin is also valuable, being employed in the 
manufacture of moccasins, belts, thongs, and other articles where strength and flexibility are 
required. The teeth are employed by the Indians in decorating their dresses, and a robe thus 
adorned, which is in the possession of Mr. Audubon, was valued by its manufacturers as 
equivalent to thirty horses. The horns are also employed for various useful purposes. It is 
a remarkable fact, that in no two individuals are the horns precisely alike. 
The genus Cervus is represented in South America by nine species, and by about the same 
number in North America. 
The Wapiti ( Cervus canadensis) is the largest of the the Deer, save the Moose. This 
animal has borne the designation Elk, and thereby is often mistaken for the Moose of Europe. 
American naturalists have preferred to use the term Wapiti, as applied by the aborigines. 
As late as 1842 this noble beast was found in New York State. In the northwestern 
counties of Pennsylvania it was common until lately. 
The Wapiti is more nearly allied to the Red Deer, or Stag of Europe. It is larger and 
more imposing than the latter. It was once very widely distributed ; its range extending 
from ocean to ocean, and reaching as far north as latitude fifty-seven. 
The Stag, or Red Deer, is spread over many parts of Europe and Asia, and is indigenous 
to the British Islands, where it still lingers, though in vastly reduced numbers. 
In the olden days of chivalry and Robin Hood, the Red Deer were plentiful in every 
forest ; and especially in that sylvan chase which was made by the exercise of royal tyranny 
at the expense of such sorrow and suffering. Even in the New Forest itself the Red Deer is 
seldom seen, and those few survivors that still serve as relics of a bygone age, are scarcely to 
be reckoned as living in a wild state, and approach nearly to the semi-domesticated condition 
of the Fallow Deer. Many of these splendid animals are preserved in parks or paddocks, 
but they no more roam the wide forests in unquestioned freedom. In Scotland, however, 
the Red Deer are still to be found, as can be testified by many a keen hunter of the present 
day, who has had his strength, craft, and coolness thoroughly tested before he could lay 
low in the dust the magnificent animal, whose head with its forest of horns now graces his 
residence. 
Formerly the Stag was placed under the protection of the severest penalties, its slaughter 
being visited with capital punishment on the offender if he could be known and arrested. 
Indeed, a man who murdered his fellow might hope to escape retribution except by the 
avenging hand of some relation of the slain man, but if he were unfortunate or daring enough 
to dip his hands in the blood of a Stag, he could hope for no mercy if he were detected in the 
offence. 
All the ancient works on hunting are filled with the praises of the Stag, which is belauded 
with a fluency of language and a fertility of expression that throw the modern sporting termi- 
nology completely into the shade. Every minute particular concerning the Stag itself, or the 
details of hunting, killing, cooking, and serving the animal is graced with its appropriate 
phrase, and if a gentleman should have perchance misplaced or omitted one of these cere- 
monious appellations, he would have been held in very low esteem by his compeers. 
Although the Stag has been several times partially domesticated and trained to run in 
harness, it is a very capricious animal, and not a very safe servant. About the month of 
August the Stag always becomes very much excited, as that is the time when he seeks his 
mate, and during a space of three or four weeks the animal is testy and irritable in temper, 
and prone to attack with a kind of blind rage every other animal except a female of his own 
species. Comparatively tame Stags become dangerous at such a season, and have frequently 
assaulted those human beings to whom they were formerly attached. The sad death of a 
