DEER.

Of these graceful quadrupeds there are nearly fifty species known to the

scientific naturalist. These are geographically distributed throughout

the continents of Europe, Asia, and America; and several belong to the

great Indian islands. In Africa we find only two kinds, and these

confined to the mountain regions near the coast of the Mediterranean

Sea. Throughout the central and southern parts of that vast continent

no native deer exist; but their place is plentifully supplied by their

very near kindred the antelopes--for which, as already seen, Africa is

especially famous.

It will be evident to my young readers, that anything like a detailed

description of fifty different kinds of animals would take up a volume

of itself. I must therefore content myself with giving a brief account

of the more remarkable species, and a word or two only about those less

noted.

If size entitle a species to precedence, then decidedly the _Elk_ should

stand first. He is the largest of the deer tribe--not unfrequently

standing as high as a horse, and carrying upon his crown a pair of

broad, flat-branched antlers, weighing sixty pounds! Although truly an

animal of the deer kind, he lacks those graceful shapes and proportions

that characterise most of his congeners; and his mode of progression--a

sort of shambling trot--is awkward in the extreme. While the animal is

in the act of running, its long split hoofs strike together, giving out

a series of singular sounds that resemble the crackling of castanets.

In the elk countries of North America the native Indians prize the

skins--dressing them into a soft pliable leather. The flesh is also

eaten; but it is inferior to the venison of either the fallow or red

deer.

The elk belongs equally to the Old and New Worlds. His range is the

wooded countries of high latitudes in the north, both of Europe and

Asia; and in America he is found in similar situations. In the latter

continent he is called the Moose; and the name Elk is there erroneously

given to another and more southern species--the Wapiti--to be noticed

presently.

In North America the range of the elk may be defined by regarding the

boundary-line of the United States and Canada as its southern limit.

Formerly elks were met with as far south as the Ohio--now they are rare

even in Wisconsin. In Canada, and northward to the shores of the Arctic

Sea, wherever timber is plenteous, the great moose deer dwell. They

roam in small herds--or perhaps only families, consisting of six or

seven individuals--and feed chiefly on the leaves of plants and trees.

Their legs are so long, and their necks so short, that they cannot graze

on the level ground, but, like the giraffes of Africa, are compelled to

browse on the tops of tall plants, and the twigs and leaves of trees, in

the summer; while in the winter they feed on the tops of the willows and

small birches, and are never found far from the neighbourhood where such

trees grow. Though they have no fore-teeth in their upper jaw, yet they

are enabled somehow or other to crop from the willows and birch trees

twigs of considerable thickness, cutting them off as clean as if the

trees were pruned by a gardener's shears.

The moose is a sly animal, and in early winter all the craft of the

hunter is required to capture it. In summer it is easier to do so:

these animals are then so tormented with mosquitoes and gnats, that they

become almost heedless of the approach of their more dangerous enemy,

man. In winter the hunter follows the moose by his track, easily

discovered in the snow; but it is necessary to approach from the

leeward, as the slightest sound borne to his ear upon the breeze is

sufficient to start him off. A very singular habit of the moose adds to

the difficulty of approaching him. When he has the intention to repose,

he turns sharply out of the general track he has been following, and

then, making a circuit, lies down, his body being hidden by the

surrounding snow. In this lair he can hear any one passing along the

track he has made; and, thus warned, his escape is easy. The hunter who

understands his business can usually give a guess (from a survey of the

ground) of where these detours are likely to be taken, and takes his

measures accordingly. When within range, the hunter usually makes some

noise, as by snapping a twig: the moose starts to his feet, and shows

himself above the snow. For a moment he squats on his hams, before

starting off. This is the fatal moment, for it is the time for the

hunter to take sure aim and send the fatal bullet. If the shot prove

only a slight wound, and not mortal, the moose sometimes turns upon his

enemy; and if a friendly tree be not convenient, the hunter stands a

good chance of being trampled to death. In the rutting season the moose

will assail even man himself without provocation; and at such times the

old "bulls" (as the hunters term the males) have terrible conflicts with

one another.

The habits of the elk of Northern Europe appear to be identical with the

moose of America. Hunting it in Sweden and Norway is a favourite sport,

and its flesh is eaten, the nose and tongue being esteemed great

delicacies, as they are in America. It is related that elks were

formerly used in Sweden to draw the sledge; but, for certain reasons,

this was prohibited by law.

In point of size, the _Wapiti_ stands next to the elk. In shape he

resembles the well-known Stag or Red Deer of our parks, but is much

larger. The wapiti is exclusively a native of North America; and it may

be remarked that his range is more southerly, and not so northerly as

that of the moose. He is not found so far south as the Southern States,

nor farther north than the Canadas; but around the great lakes, and

westward to the Rocky Mountains, and even to the Pacific, the wapiti is

met with. He is a noble creature--perhaps the noblest of the deer

tribe--and it is a boast of the backwoods' hunter to have killed an elk;

for such, as already mentioned, is the name erroneously given to this

animal.

Perhaps the _Reindeer_ is the most celebrated of all the deer; and just

on that account I shall say but little of this species, since its habits

are familiar to every one. Every one has read of the Laplander and his

reindeer--how these people have tamed and trained, and otherwise

submitted it to a variety of useful purposes; but the Laplanders are not

the only people who have to do with the reindeer. The tribes of the

Tungusians and Tchutski, who inhabit the northern parts of Asia, have

also trained it to various uses--as a beast of burden, and also to ride

upon. The variety--perhaps it is a distinct species--which the

Tungusians employ for the saddle, is much larger than that of the

Laplanders; but it may be remarked that there are also varieties in

Lapland itself. The same remark applies to the reindeer of America,

which is found in the northern parts of the Hudson's Bay territory, and

all along the shores of the Arctic Ocean, making its way over frozen

seas, even to the islands that lie around the pole. In these desolate

countries the Caribou (for by such name is the reindeer known in

America) is hunted by both Indians and Esquimaux; but it has never been

trained by either race to any useful purpose, and is only sought for as

furnishing an important article of food and clothing. At least two

kinds of Caribou exist in the vast tracts of almost unknown country

known as Prince Rupert's Land, or the Hudson's Bay territory.

As the three kinds described belong--at least partially--to the New

World, we shall finish with the other deer of this hemisphere, before

proceeding to those peculiar to the Old World.

The _Virginian Deer_ is the species common to the United States proper,

and, in fact, the only wild species now found in the greater number in

the States. It is a small animal, very similar to the fallow-deer of

Europe; and several varieties (or species), not differing much from the

Virginian deer, exist throughout the forests of Mexico, California,

Oregon, and South America. In Mexico there are three or four species,

severally known as the Mexican Deer, the Mazama, the Cariacou, and by

other appellations. Of course, the inhabitants simply know them as

venados (deer). In Guyana there are one or two small species, and along

the forest-covered sides of the Andes two or three more. In Bolivia

there is a large kind known as the Tarush; and on the pampas of Buenos

Ayres and Patagonia is a kind called Guazuti, which associates in large

herds, and is remarkable for the powerful odour emitted by the bucks.

In the forests of the Amazon, and all through the Brazilian country,

deer exist of different species; several, as the Guazuviva, the Pita,

the Eyebrowed Brocket, and the Large-eared Brocket, being tiny little

creatures, not much larger than the fawns of the ordinary species.

Returning to North America, we find several varieties of the Virginian

Deer in the countries lying along the Pacific coast--viz., California,

Oregon, and Russian America. These have received trivial names, though

it is believed that they are only varieties, as mentioned above. Two,

however, appear to be specifically different from the Virginian deer.

One of these is the Mule Deer of the Rocky Mountains--almost as large as

the red deer of our own country, and well-known to the trappers of the

Upper Missouri. Another is a well-marked species, on account of the

length of its tail--whence it has received its hunter appellation of the

Long-tailed Deer.

The _Deer of Europe_ are not numerous in species; but if we consider the

large herds shut up in parks, they are perhaps as plentiful in numbers

as elsewhere, over a like extent of territory.

The _Reindeer_ and _Elk_, as already stated, are both indigenous to

Europe; so also the _Stag_ or _Red Deer_, the greatest ornament of our

parks. The red deer runs wild in Scotland, and in most of the great

forests of Europe and Asia. There are also varieties of this noble

animal, a small one being found in the mountains of Corsica.

The _Fallow-Deer_ is too well-known to need description. It is enough

to say that it exists wild in most countries of Europe, our own

excepted. Into this country it is supposed to have been introduced from

Denmark.

The _Roebuck_, another species of our parks, is indigenous to both

England and Scotland. It is now found plentiful only in the northern

parts of Great Britain. It is a native also of Italy, Sweden, Norway,

and Siberia.

The _African Deer_ consist of two species, supposed to be varieties of

red deer. They are found in Barbary, and usually known as the Barbary

Deer. But the fallow-deer also exists in North Africa, in the woods of

Tunis and Algiers; and Cuvier has asserted that the fallow-deer

originally came from Africa. This is not probable, since they are at

present met with over the whole continent of Asia, even in China itself.

We now arrive at the species more especially termed _Asiatic_ or _Indian

Beer_. These form a numerous group, containing species that differ

essentially from each other.

There is the _Ritsa_, or Great Black Stag of the Japanese and Sumatrans.

It is named _black_ stag, from its dark brown colour during winter. It

is fully as large as our own stag; and is further distinguished by long

hair growing upon the upper part of its neck, cheeks, and throat, which

gives it the appearance of having a beard and mane! It inhabits Bengal,

and some of the large Indian islands.

The _Samboo_, or _Sambur_, is another large species, not unlike the

rusa. It is found in various parts of India, and especially in the

tropical island of Ceylon. Several varieties of it have been described

by naturalists.

In the Himalaya Mountains there exist two or three species of large

deer, not very well-known. One is the Saul Forest Stag, or Bara-singa--

a species almost as large as the Canadian wapiti. Another is the Marl,

or Wallich's Stag, which is also found in Persia. Still another

species, the Sika, inhabits Japan; and yet another, the Baringa, or

Spotted Deer of the Sunderbunds, dwells along the marshy rivers of this

last-mentioned territory. Again, there is the Spotted Rusa, and other

species, inhabitants of the Saul Forests. In fact, the number of

species of Indian deer is far from being accurately ascertained, to say

nothing of the very imperfect descriptions given of those that are

actually known.

When we come to the great Oriental islands--the Isles of Ind--we find

many new and beautiful species; some being large noble stags, while

others are tiny graceful little creatures like gazelles.

In Sumatra and Borneo we have a distinct species of Sambur Deer; in

Timor a smaller one; a third exists in Java; and a fourth in the

Philippines. In Java, too, we find the beautiful little Muntjak; and

another tiny variety in China, called the Chinese Muntjak.

Returning again to the Himalaya country, we encounter, in the plains

south of this great chain, the Spotted Axis, so well-known from its

beautiful markings, which resemble those of the fawn of our own

fallow-deer. But it may be remarked that there are two or three species

of spotted deer, and that they inhabit the plains of India--from the

Himalayas southward to the Island of Ceylon. Ascending these great

mountains, we encounter among their lower slopes another very singular

species of cervine creature--the Musk Deer--which, though but little

known, is one of the most interesting of its tribe; especially so, as it

is from the secreting glands of this curious little animal that most of

the celebrated perfume of commerce is obtained.

Crossing the Himalayas, and advancing northwards, we find upon the

plains of Central Asia a species of deer, known among the Tartars as

Siaga, and to our own naturalists as the Tail-less Roe. Several species

entirely unknown to scientific men will yet be discovered, when the

immense steppes of Asia come to be explored by observers capable of

describing and classifying.

Like many another genus of animals, a complete monograph of the deer

tribe would be of itself the labour of a life.