AUGUST, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
361 
A FEMALE DEER WITH HORNS 
THIS YOUNG DOE, TAKEN IN THE MAINE WOODS 
DURING NOVEMBER, HAS AN ALMOST PERFECT SET 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
The occurrence of horns on the head of 
a female deer (caribou of course excepted) 
is so uncommon that it is possible an illus- 
ing that the extremity of the left horn also 
was abraded to its present condition. That 
the horns also perceptibly shrunk in length 
as well as in diameter was due, it is rea¬ 
sonable to believe, to their incomplete ossi¬ 
fication. 
The longer horn now measures inches 
in length above the peduncle and averages 
of an inch in diameter. The enlargement 
at the base of the horns just after spring¬ 
ing from the peduncle, observable in the 
adult male, does not appear in the present 
specimen; instead of practically capping the 
peduncle, as do those of the male, the horns 
appear to rise from within it, the peduncle 
forming a bonelike fence about them. 
Though the latter is unmistakably of solid 
bone texture, it is somewhat irregular and 
not well defined, thus completing the em¬ 
bryonic character of the occurrence of 
horns on this head. 
It may be well, incidentally, to mention 
that the udder of the doe clearly disclosed 
fertility. That she was not more than two 
or three years old was the opinion of a 
number of guides and experienced hunters 
who examined the carcass more or less 
minutely. W. H. Bentley. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
[If a young animal the teeth should of 
course have settled the question of her age.] 
FISH FOOD CONSERVATION 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Without question I believe we are rapidly 
advancing in the right direction to better 
things in the angling craft, and it is very 
desirable that a similar advance be made 
in fish production. There is less fear of 
bass than trout not holding their own in 
abundance and size so long as the food 
supply is plentiful. It is not so much the 
mere planting of fish, as the maintaining 
of an ample supply of food for them. If 
you feed any creatures well they multiply 
faster and grow bigger. That is exactly 
the reason why the fontinalis trout fed in 
large rivers and lakes, grow to large size, 
while the same species in brooks never at¬ 
tain a size worth fishing for. This is the 
crux of the situation. Do not rob fish of 
their natural food. We must continue our 
efforts and go on improving artificial baits 
’til the time comes when we will be for¬ 
bidden by law to use natural fish food as 
bait to catch fish. Louis Rhead. 
NESTING PLACE OF BLUE HERONS ON THE SOUTH PLATTE 
The horns usually freeze off 
tration of the mounted head of a doe taken 
by L. E. Rankin, Woodfords, Maine, on 
November x last may be of interest to some 
of the readers of your publication. I ac¬ 
cordingly send to you a photographic print 
of the mount, which is now in my posses¬ 
sion. 
The print discloses the present condition 
of the horns, which it will be observed are 
in the velvet. I am informed by Dr. T. S. 
Palmer, of the Biological Survey, that it is 
believed the embryonic covering invariably 
persists and that the horns are frozen off 
during the winter months. The persistence 
of the velvet would indicate the uninter¬ 
rupted maintenance of circulation and rea¬ 
sonably ground the surmise. 
When I first came upon the carcass of the 
doe hanging in the woods the horns were 
perceptibly longer and of greater diameter 
than they measure on the mounted head. 
Unfortunately, no exact measurements of 
them were then obtained. The right horn, 
then as at present, was so abraded as to 
exhibit the truncated extremity. The left, 
however, was more nearly Iperfect and 
regularly tapered to a blunt point. 
Inasmuch as the carcass was hauled with 
others two or three miles through the woods 
on a horse-drawn “jumper,” endured a jour¬ 
ney of eighteen miles by canoe and buck- 
board, withstood transportation by railroad 
nearly 200 miles, as well as handling by 
local delivery at Portland, it is not surpris- 
np HIS unique photograph, obtained by William M. Strong, of Denver, 
shows distinctly four of the herons perched upon their nests, high up in 
the big tree in the foreground. Others are outlined against the sky. 
