Oct. 6, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
533 
In Quest of an Albino Deer. 
Worcester, Mass., Sept. 22.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Some years ago I took a canoe trip 
from Gerrish’s camp, which is located at the 
South Twin Lake Dam on the west branch of 
the Penobscot. 
Frank Gerrish, my guide, and I started at 
3 o’clock one morning, and paddled up through 
Twin lakes and through Pemadumcook lake to 
the outldt from Joe-Mary lakes; then through 
this outlet into Joe-Mary, and from there carried 
over into Mud pond; and from Mud pond we 
tramped six miles to Cooper pond, where we 
stayed over night. The next day we started 
home, but instead of carrying from Mud pond 
over into Joe-Mary, we went down the outlet 
of Mud pond and came into Joe-Mary lake, and 
then through the Joe-Mary otitlet into Pema¬ 
dumcook and so home. During this trip, I 
counted forty-two deer. Some of them were 
very tame and would allow us nearly to reach 
them before bounding off into the woods. We 
saw a number of deer feeding out in Mud pond 
and got quite close to some of them. As I 
pointed out in my last letter, they seemed to 
have no difficulty in wandering about in the mud 
which was deep enough to drown them. 
Previous to taking this canoe trip and also 
during the trip, Frank had mentioned seeing an 
albino deer while going to Cooper pond by 
the same route that we were taking, and it must 
be confessed that one of the things that decided 
me to take the trip, was the possibility of seeing 
the albino and very possibly getting a photo¬ 
graph of her. but I did not see her, and I heard 
no more about her until five years ago while at 
Ragged lake I again heard of an albino deer. 
The distance between Joe-Mary and Ragged 
lakes is not so great—about twenty miles—but 
that it seemed quite probable that it was the same 
deer, so I determined to make one more effort 
to locate her and if possible obtain her picture, 
and for this reason I was rather a constant 
visitor to Mud pond. It was there that I ob¬ 
tained the photographs of the moose that you 
published Sept. 1. 
This is a great feeding place for deer, and I 
thought that it was possible that if the albino 
was in the vicinity of Ragged lake she would put 
in an appearance sooner or later at the pond. 
One day, after having been fly-fishing for 
trout with more or less satisfactory results until 
about 10 o’clock in the forenoon. I went down to 
Mud pond with my guide, and we examined every 
inch of the shore in hopes that we might dis¬ 
cover the albino. We saw several other deer, 
but there was nothing unusual about them, so 
we decided to take the canoe and go around the 
ALBINO DEER. 
Photo by Charles A. Allen. 
shore of the pond carefully, as there were several 
little bays that we could not see into from where 
we stood. We had not proceeded far when, 
upon turning a point of land which opened into 
a small bay, we discovered, feeding in the lily- 
pads, what I was sure was the albino deer She 
had evidently been wading around in the mud 
and water for some time, as she was well 
splashed with mud. We were at that time per¬ 
haps 250 or 300 feet from her, and we came so 
quietly around the point that she had not dis¬ 
covered 11s. I immediately got my camera ready 
and Tom, my guide, paddled me carefully toward 
her, and when we arrived within about thirty 
feet, she looked up and started for the shore, 
and I got the photograph just as she was start¬ 
ing, the result of which I send you. 
Now I am obliged to say that I do not think 
that this deer was a true albino. I got so close 
to her that I could see that she was not ab¬ 
solutely white, but she was the lightest colored 
deer that I ever saw. The shading of her coat 
was extremely unusual, it was evidently a mix¬ 
ture of red and white, with the white predom¬ 
inating. You will see by the photograph that 
she is extremely light colored, and that the color 
at that distance is very uniform, it lacking the 
shadings from red to white ordinarily seen upon 
deer. Nature had played one of those freaks, 
which she sometimes indulges in, when she 
colored this deer, and while I cannot say that 
I have seen and photographed an albino deer, 
I think I can say that I came pretty near it. 
Charles A. Allen. 
Adirondack Preservation. 
In its platform at Buffalo, Sept. 26, the Demo¬ 
cratic party incorporated the following: 
“We favor the protection by the state of the 
forest lands of the Adirondack and Catskill 
parks, the immediate acquisition of all lands 
within the natural park areas and such legisla¬ 
tion as will at once stop the predatory destruc¬ 
tion of timber upon the state lands too long 
connived at by state officials. 
“The great falls of Niagara should be held 
sacred from commercial greed. Its scenic 
beauty must be preserved in all its natural 
grandeur as the chief artistic possession of 
humanity.” 
At Saratoga the Republicans said: 
“We renew the pledges to the people given 
by previous Republican state conventions, in¬ 
sisting upon the preservation intact of the state 
forest preserve and its extension as far as may 
be necessary to conserve in their integrity for 
the benefit of the whole people the state lands 
and undeveloped water powers, which should not 
be surrendered to the control of private interests.” 
A TRIO OF ALBINO DEER. 
