VIRGINIAN DEER. 
229 
high bounds succeed, whilst the head is turned in every direction to enable 
it to detect the cause of alarm. The leaps and high boundings of the 
Deer are so graceful, that we have never witnessed them without excite- 
ment and admiration. When, however, the Deer observes you before it is 
routed from its bed, it bolts off with a rush, running low to the ground, 
with its head and tail on a line with the body, and for a few hundred yards 
rivalling the speed of a race horse. But this rattling pace cannot be kept 
up for any length of time — after the first burst its speed slackens, it foams 
at the mouth, and exhibits other evidences of fatigue. We have some- 
times seen it overtaken and turned by an active rider in the open wood, 
and under other favourable circumstances, and on one occasion a fat buck 
was headed by a fearless driver, lashed with his whip, brought to bay, 
and finally knocked in the head and taken without having been shot. 
We have witnessed a few instances where a pack of hounds, after a four 
hours’ chase, succeeded in running down a Deer. These cases are, however, 
rare, nor would we give any encouragement to this furious Sylvan race, 
in which the horse and his mad rider are momentarily exposed to the 
danger of a broken neck from the many holes in the pine lands. The Deer, 
after an attempt at bringing it to bay, frequently succeeds in escaping 
from the hunter and the hounds, by dashing into a swamp or crossing a 
river, and even should it be captured, after a long chase the venison is 
found to be insipid and of no value. 
In riding through the woods at night in the vicinity of Deer, we have 
often heard them stamp their feet, the bucks on such occasions giving a 
loud snort, then bounding off for a few yai’ds and again repeating the 
stamping and snorting, which appear to be nocturnal habits. 
Deer take the water freely, and swim with considerable rapidity ; their 
bodies are on such occasions submerged, their heads only being 
visible above the surface. We have witnessed them crossing broad rivers 
and swimming the distance of two miles. When thus under way, they 
cleave the water with such celerity that a boat can scarcely overtake 
them. 
Along our southern sea-board the Deer, when fatigued by the hounds, 
plunge into the surf and swim off for a mile or two, floating or swim- 
ming back with the returning tide, when they ascend the beach near the 
same i^lace where they entered the water. 
As already remarked, the flesh of our common Deer is the best flavoured 
and most easy of digestion of all the species with which we are acquainted, 
except the black-tailed Deer ; it is superior to the Elk or Moose of our 
country, or the red Deer or Roebuck of Europe. It is, however, only a 
delicacy when it is fat, which is generally the case from the beginning of 
