or Deer, in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of Pecora. The horns are solid, brittle, covered with a hairy skin, and growing from the top; they likewise fall off and are renewed annually. There are eight fore-teeth in the under jaw, and they have no dog-teeth. The species of this genus enumerated by Linnaeus are seven, viz.

1. The Camelopardalis, or Giraffe, with simple or unbranched horns, straight, about six inches long, covered with hair, and truncated at the end and tufted; in the forehead a tubercle, about two inches high, resembling a third horn. The fore legs are not much longer than the hind legs; but the shoulders are of a vast length, which gives the disproportionate height between the fore and hind parts: the head is like that of a flag: the neck is slender and elegant, and on the upper side is a short mane: the ears are large: tail is long, with strong hairs at the end: the colour of the whole animal a dirty white, marked with large broad rusty spots. This is an uncommon animal, few of them having been ever seen in Europe. It inhabits the forests of Ethiopia, and other interior parts of Africa, almost as high as Senegal; but is not found in Guinea, or any of the western parts; nor farther south than about lat. 28° 10'. It is very timid, but not swift; and has been represented as living only by browsing the trees, being unable from the disproportionate length of its fore legs to graze or feed from the ground. When it would leap, it lifts up its fore legs and then its hind, like a horse whose fore legs are tied. It runs very badly and awkwardly, and is very easily taken. The latest and best description of this extraordinary quadruped is given in the 16th number of a work entitled, "A Description of the uncommon Animals and remarkable Productions in the Cabinet and Menagerie of his Serene Highness the Prince of Orange;" by M. Vofmaer, Director of his Highness's Collections of Natural History. His account of the giraffe is composed partly from the notices of M. Vaillant and Mr Gordon of the Cape of Good Hope, and partly from his own observations on the skins of four of these animals, together with a complete skeleton, in the cabinet of curiosities under his care.

All the accounts we have of the giraffe, agree in representing its hind quarters as about 2½ feet lower than its withers: but from observations made by the late professor Camper on the above mentioned skeleton, it would appear that naturalists have been greatly mistaken in this particular. That its fore legs are longer than its hind legs, is indeed true; but the difference is not more than seven inches, which, in a height of seven feet, is no great matter. It may, however (the professor observes), be rendered apparently more considerable by the obliquity of the thigh-bone with respect to the tibia, when compared with that of the humerus to the radius.

The giraffe has always been celebrated for the gentleness of its disposition. Antonius Constatius, a writer of the 15th century, in a letter to Galeas Manfredi, Prince of Faenza, dated Fano, 16th December 1486, gives an account of a giraffe which he saw there. He says it was so gentle, that it would eat bread, hay, or fruit, out of the hand of a child; and that, when led through the street, it would take whatever food of this kind was offered to it by the spectators at the windows, as it passed along. This character is confirmed by Mr Gordon, who relates, that a giraffe, which he had wounded, suffered him to approach it as it lay on the ground, without offering to strike with its horns, or showing any inclination to revenge itself: he even stroked it over its eyes several times, when it only closed them, without any signs of resentment. Its throat was afterwards cut for the sake of its skin; and when in the pangs of death, it struck the ground with its feet with a force much exceeding that of any other animal, and these seem to be its principal means of defence. M. Vofmaer observes, that both the male and female are furnished with horns, which, from their size and form, seem intended merely for ornament: they appear to be excrescences of the os frontale, and therefore are probably not deciduous. The notion of some writers, that the giraffe cannot feed from the ground, is confuted by the testimony of M. Vaillant, who affirms, that it can even drink from a river, the surface of which is lower than the bank on which it stands. M. Vofmaer observes, that this account is confirmed by considering the structure of the neck, the vertebrae of which are connected with those of the back by a very strong ligament.

The giraffe here described, which Mr Gordon, who dissected it, says was the largest he had ever seen, was 15 feet 4 inches Rhineland measure (about 15 feet 10 inches English) from the ground to the top of its head; the length of the body, from the chest to the rump, was 5 feet 7 inches Rhineland measure. M. Vaillant affirms, that he has seen several which were at least 17 feet high; and M. Vofmaer declares, that he has been assured by some very respectable inhabitants of the Cape, that they had seen and killed giraffes, which, which, including the horns, were 22 Rhineland feet in height.

The giraffe was known to the Romans in early times. It appears among the figures in the affenblage of eastern animals on the celebrated Praetorian Pavement, made by the direction of Sylla; and is represented both grazing and browsing, in its natural attitudes. It was exhibited at Rome by the popular Caesar, among other animals in the Circcean games.

2. The Alces, Elk, or Moof Deer, has palmated horns, without any proper stem, and a fleshy protuberance on the throat. The neck is much shorter than the head, with a short, thick, upright mane, of a light brown colour. The eyes are small; the ears a foot long, very broad and flouching; nostrils very large; the upper lip square, hangs greatly over the lower, and has a deep fulcus in the middle, so as to appear almost bifid. This is the bulkiest animal of the deer kind, being sometimes 17 hands high, and weighing above 1200 pounds. The female is less than the male, and wants horns. The elks inhabit the isle of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and the western side of the bay of Fundy; Canada, and the country round the great lakes, almost as far south as the river Ohio. There are its present northern and southern limits. In all ages it affected the cold and woody regions in Europe, Asia, and America. They are found in all the woody tracts of the temperate parts of Russia, but not on the Arctic flats, nor yet in Kamchatka. In Siberia they are of a monstrous size, particularly among the mountains. The elk and the moofe, according to Mr Pennant, are the same species; the last derived from myfu, which in the Algonkin language signifies that animal. The English used to call it the black moofe, to distinguish it from the stag, which they named the grey moofe. The French call it l'original.

These animals reside amidst forests, for the convenience of browsing the boughs of trees, because they are prevented from grazing with any kind of ease, by reason of the shortness of their necks and length of their legs. They often have recourse to water-plants, which they can readily get at by wading. M. Sarasin says, that they are very fond of the anagris foetida, or flanking bean trefoil, and will uncover the snow with their feet in order to get at it. In passing through the woods, they raise their heads to a horizontal position, to prevent their horns from being entangled in the branches. They have a singular gait: their pace is a shambling trot, but they go with great swiftness. In their common walk they lift their feet very high, and will without any difficulty step over a gate five feet high. They feed principally in the night. If they graze, it is always against an ascent; an advantage they use for the reason above assigned. They ruminate like the ox. They go to rut in autumn; are at that time very furious, seeking the female by swimming from isle to isle. They bring two young at a birth, in the month of April, which follow the dam a whole year. During the summer they keep in families. In deep snows they collect in numbers in the forests of pines, for protection from the inclemency of the weather under the shelter of those evergreens. They are very inoffensive, except in the rutting-season; or except they are wounded, when they will turn on the afflant, and attack him with their horns, or trample him to death beneath their great hoofs.

The flesh of the moofe is extremely sweet and nourishing. The Indians say, that they can travel three times farther after a meal of moofe, than after any other animal food. The tongues are excellent; but the nose is perfect marrow, and esteemed the greatest delicacy in Canada. The skin makes excellent buff, being strong, soft, and light. The Indians dress the hide, and, after soaking it for some time, stretch and render it supple by a lather of the brains in hot water. They not only make their snow-shoes of the skin, but after a chase form the canoes with it: they sew the skins neatly together, cover the seams with an unctuous earth, and embark in them with their spoils to return home. The hair on the neck, withers, and hams of a full-grown elk, is of much use in making mattresses and saddles; being by its great length well adapted for those purposes. The palmated parts of the horns are farther excavated by the savages, and converted into ladles, which will hold a pint.

It is not strange that so useful an animal should be a principal object of chase. The savages perform it in different ways. The first, and the more simple, is before the lakes or rivers are frozen. Multitudes assemble in their canoes, and form with them a vast crescent, each horn touching the shore. Another party perform their share of the chase among the woods; they surround an extensive tract, let loose their dogs, and press towards the water with loud cries. The animals, alarmed with the noise, fly before the hunters, and plunge into the lake, where they are killed by the persons in the canoes, prepared for their reception, with lances or clubs. The other method is more artful. The savages inclose a large space with stakes hedged with branches of trees, forming two sides of a triangle: the bottom opens into a second inclosure, completely triangular. At the opening are hung numbers of furs, made of slips of raw hides. The Indians, as before, assemble in great troops, and with all kinds of noises drive into the first inclosure not only the moofes, but the other species of deer which abound in that country: some, in forcing their way into the farthest triangle, are caught in the snare by the neck or horns; and those which escape the snares, and pass the little opening, find their fate from the arrows of the hunters, directed at them from all quarters. They are often killed with the gun. When they are thus embarked, they squat with their hind parts and make water, at which instant the sportsman fires; if he misses, the moofe sets off in a most rapid trot, making, like the rein-deer, a prodigious rattling with its hoofs, and will run for 20 or 30 miles before it comes to bay or takes the water. But the usual time for this diversion is the winter. The hunters avoid entering on the chase till the sun is strong enough to melt the frozen crust with which the snow is covered, otherwise the animal can run over the firm surface: they wait till it becomes soft enough to impede the flight of the moofe; which runs up to the shoulders, flounders, and gets on with great difficulty. The sportsman pursues at his ease on his broad rackets, or snow- snow-thoes, and makes a ready prey of the distressed animals.

As weak against the mountain heaps they push Their beating breast in vain, and piteous bray, He lays them quivering on th' enfangun'd snows, And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home.

THOMPSON.

The opinion of this animal's being subject to the epilepsy seems to have been universal, as well as the cure it finds by scratching its ear with the hind hoof till it draws blood. That hoof has been used in Indian medicine for the falling-fickness; they apply it to the heart of the afflicted, make him hold it in his left hand, and rub his ear with it. They use it also in the colic, pleurisy, vertigo, and purple fever; pulverizing the hoof, and drinking it in water. The Algonkins pretend that the flesh imparts the disease; but it is notorious that the hunters in a manner live on it with impunity. The savages esteem the moose a beast of good omen; and are persuaded that those who dream often of it may flatter themselves with long life.

The elk was known to the Romans by the name of Aleo and Machlis: they believed that it had no joints in its legs; and, from the great size of the upper lip, imagined it could not feed without going backward as it grazed.

3. The Elaphus, or Stag, with long cylindrical ramified horns bent backwards, and slender sharp brown antlers. The colour is generally a reddish brown with some black about the face, and a black list down the hinder part of the neck and between the shoulders. Stags are common to Europe, Barbary, the north of Asia, and America. In spring, they shed their horns, which fall off spontaneously, or by rubbing them gently against the branches of trees. It is seldom that both horns fall off at the same time, the one generally preceding the other a day or two. The old stags cast their horns first, which happens about the end of February or beginning of March. An aged stag, or one in his seventh year or upwards, does not cast his horns before the middle of March; a stag of six years sheds his horns in April; young stags, or those from three to five years old, shed their horns in the beginning, and those which are in their second year, not till the middle or end of May. But in all this there is much variety; for old stags sometimes cast their horns sooner than those which are younger. Besides, the shedding of the horns is advanced by a mild, and retarded by a severe and long winter.

As soon as the stags cast their horns, they separate from each other, the young ones only keeping together. They no longer haunt the dense recesses of the forest, but advance into the cultivated country, and remain among brushwood during the summer, till their horns are renewed. In this season, they walk with their heads low to prevent their horns from rubbing against the branches; for they continue to have sensibility till they acquire their full growth. The horns of the oldest stags are not half completed in the middle of May, and acquire their full-length and hardness before the end of July. Those of the younger stags are proportionally later both in shedding and being renewed. But as soon as they have acquired their full dimensions and solidity, the stags rub them against the trees, in order to clear them of a skin with which they are covered.

Soon after the stags have polished their horns, they begin to feel the impressions of love. Towards the end of August or beginning of September, they leave the coppice, return to the forests, and search for the hinds. They cry with a loud voice; their neck and throat swell; they become perfectly restless, and traverse in open day the fields and the fallow grounds; they strike their horns against trees and hedges; in a word, they seem to be transported with fury, and run from country to country till they find the hinds or females, whom they pursue and compel into compliance; for the female at first avoids and flies from the male, and never submits to his embraces till she be fatigued with the pursuit. The old hinds likewise come in season before the younger ones. When two stags approach the same hind, they must fight before they enjoy. If nearly equal in strength, they threaten, paw the ground, set up terrible cries, and attack each other with such fury, that they often inflict mortal wounds with the strokes of their horns. The combat never terminates but in the defeat or flight of one of the rivals. The conqueror loses not a moment in enjoying his victory, unless another rival approaches, whom he is again obliged to attack and repel. The oldest stags are always masters of the field; because they are stronger and more furious than the young ones, who must wait patiently till their superiors tire, and quit their mistress. Sometimes, however, the young stags accomplish their purposes when the old ones are fighting, and, after a hasty gratification, fly off. The hinds prefer the old stags, not because they are most courageous, but because they are much more ardent. They are likewise more inconstant, having often several females at a time; and when a stag has but one hind, his attachment to her does not continue above a few days: He then leaves her, goes in quest of another, with whom he remains a still shorter time; and in this manner passes from one to another till he is perfectly exhausted.

This ardour of love lasts only three weeks, during which the stags take very little food, and neither sleep nor rest. Night and day, they are either walking, running, fighting, or enjoying the hinds. Hence, at the end of the rutting season, they are so meagre and exhausted, that they recover not their strength for a considerable time. They generally retire to the borders of the forests, feed upon the cultivated fields, where they find plenty of nourishment, and remain there till their strength is re-established. The rutting season of old stags commences about the beginning, and ends about the 20th day of September. In those of six or seven years old, it begins about the 10th of September, and concludes in the beginning of October. In young stags, or those in their third, fourth, or fifth year, it begins about the 20th of September, and terminates about the 15th of October; and at the end of October, the rutting is all over, excepting among the prickets, or those which have entered into their second year; because they, like the young hinds, are latest of coming into season. Hence, at the beginning of November, the season of love is entirely finished; and the stags, during this period of weakness and fatigues, are easily hunted down. In seasons when acorns and other nuts are plentiful, the flags soon recover their strength, and a second rutting frequently happens at the end of October; but it is of much shorter duration than the first.

In climates warmer than that of France, the rutting time, like the seasons, is more forward. Aristotle informs us, that, in Greece, it commences in the beginning of August, and terminates about the end of September. The hinds go with young eight months and some days, and seldom produce more than one fawn. They bring forth in May or the beginning of June, and so anxiously conceal their fawns, that they often expose themselves to be chased, with a view to draw off the dogs, and afterwards return to take care of their young. All hinds are not fertile; for some of them never conceive. These barren hinds are grocer and fatter than those which are prolific, and also come sooner in season. The young are not called fawns or calves after the fifth month: The knobs of their horns then begin to appear, and they take the name of knobbers till their horns lengthen into hearts, and then they are called brocks or flaggards. During the first season, they never leave their mothers. In winter, the flags and hinds, of all ages, keep together in flocks, which are always more numerous in proportion to the rigour of the season. They separate in spring: The hinds retire to bring forth; and, during this period, the flocks consist only of knobbers and young flags. In general, the flags are inclined to associate, and nothing but fear or necessity obliges them to disperse.

The life of the flag is spent in alternate plenty and want, vigour and debility, health and sickness, without having any change introduced into his constitution by these opposite extremes. He lives as long as other animals which are not subjected to such vicissitudes. As he grows five or six years, he lives seven times that number, or from 35 to 40 years. What has been reported concerning the longevity of the flag merits no credit. It is only a popular prejudice which prevailed in the days of Aristotle, and which that philosopher considered as improbable, because neither the time of gestation, nor of the growth of the young flag, indicated long life. This authority ought to have abolished the prejudice; but it has been renewed, in the ages of ignorance, by a fabulous account of a flag taken by Charles VI. in the forest of Senlis, with a collar upon which was written this inscription, Cesar hoc me donavit. The love of the marvellous inclined men to believe that this animal had lived 1000 years, and had his collar from a Roman emperor, rather than to suppose that he came from Germany, where all the emperors take the name of Cesar.

The flag appears to have a fine eye, an acute smell, and an excellent ear. When listening, he raises his head, erects his ears, and hears from a great distance. When he is going into a coppice, or other half covered place, he stops to look round him on all sides, and scents the wind, to discover if any object is near that might disturb him. He is a simple, and yet a curious and crafty animal. When called or called to from a distance, he stops short, and looks steadfastly, and with a kind of admiration, at carriages, cattle, or men; and if they have neither arms nor dogs, he moves on unconcernedly, and without flying. He appears to listen, with great tranquillity and delight, to the shepherd's pipe; and the hunters sometimes employ this artifice to encourage and deceive him. In general, he is less afraid of men than of dogs, and is never suspicious, or uses any arts of concealment, but in proportion to the disturbances he has received. He eats slow, and has a choice in his aliment; and after his stomach is full, he lies down, and ruminates at leisure. He seems to ruminate with less facility than the ox. It is only by violent shakes that the flag can make the food rise from his first stomach. This difficulty proceeds from the length and direction of the passage through which the aliment has to go. The neck of the ox is short and straight, but that of the flag is long and arched; and therefore greater efforts are necessary to raise the food. These efforts are made by a kind of hiccup, the movement of which is apparent, and continues during the time of rumination. His voice is stronger, and more quivering, in proportion as he advances in years. The voice of the hind is shorter and more feeble. She never bellows from love, but from fear. The flag, during the rutting season, bellows in a frightful manner: He is then transported, that nothing disturbs or terrifies him. He is therefore easily surprized; as he is loaded with fat, he cannot keep long before the dogs. But he is dangerous when at bay, and attacks the dogs with a species of fury. He drinks none in winter nor in spring, the dews and tender herbage being then sufficient to extinguish his thirst; but, during the parching heats of summer, to obtain drink, he frequents the brooks, the marshes, and the fountains; and in the season of love, he is so over-heated, that he searches everywhere for water, not only to satisfy his immoderate thirst, but to bathe and refresh his body. He then swims easier than at any other times on account of his fatness. He has been observed crossing very large rivers. It has even been alleged, that, attracted by the odour of the hinds, the flags, in the rutting season, throw themselves into the sea, and pass from one island to another at the distance of several leagues. They leap still more nimbly than they swim; for, when pursued, they easily clear a hedge or a pale fence of six feet high. Their food varies in different seasons. In autumn, after rutting, they search for the buds of green shrubs, the flowers of broom or heath, the leaves of brambles, &c. During the snows of winter, they feed upon the bark, roots, &c. of trees; and in mild weather, they browse in the wheat-fields. In the beginning of spring, they go in quest of the catkins of the trembling poplar, willow, and hazel-trees, the flowers and buds of the cornel tree, &c. In summer, when they have great choice, they prefer rye to all other grain, and the black berry-bearing alder to all other wood. The flesh of the fawn is very good; that of the hind and knobber not absolutely bad; but that of the flag has always a strong and disagreeable taste. The skin and the horns are the most useful parts of this animal. The skin makes a pliable and very durable leather. The horns are used by cutlers, sword-fighters, &c. and a volatile spirit, much employed in medicine, is extracted from them by the chymists.

In America, flags feed eagerly on the broad-leaved kalmia; yet that plant is a poison to all other horned animals: their intestines are found filled with it during winter. If their entrails are given to dogs, they become stupified, and as if drunk, and often are so ill as hardly to escape with life. The American flags grow very fat; their tallow is much esteemed for making candles. The Indians shoot them. As they are very shy animals, the natives cover themselves with a hide, leaving the horns erect; under shelter of which they walk within reach of the herd. De Brie, in the 25th plate of the History of Florida, gives a very curious representation of this artful method of chase, when it was visited by the French in 1564. Their skins are an article of commerce imported by the Hudson's Bay company; but brought from the distant parts far inland by the Indians, who bring them from the neighbourhood of the lakes. In most parts of North America they are called the grey moose, and the elk; this has given occasion to the mistaken notion of that great animal being found in Virginia and other southern provinces.

In Britain the stag is become less common than formerly; its excessive viciousness during the rutting season, and the badness of its flesh, induce most people to part with the species. Stags are still found wild in the Highlands of Scotland, in herds of four or five hundred together, ranging at full liberty over the vast hills of the north. Formerly the great Highland chieftains used to hunt with the magnificence of an eastern monarch, assembling four or five thousand of their clan, who drove the deer into the toils or to the stations the lairds had placed themselves in; but as this pretence was frequently used to collect their wassals for rebellious purposes, an act was passed prohibiting any assemblies of this nature. Stags are likewise met with on the moors that border on Cornwall and Devonshire; and in Ireland on the mountains of Kerry, where they add greatly to the magnificence of the romantic scenery to the lake of Killarney. The stags of Ireland during its uncultivated state, and while it remained an almost boundless tract of forest, had an exact agreement in habit with those that range at present through the wilds of America. They were less in body, but very fat; and their horns of a size far superior to those of Europe, but in form agreed in all points.

The chase of the stag has been formed into an art, and requires a species of knowledge which can only be learned by experience: It implies a royal assemblage of men, horses, and dogs, all so trained, practised, and disciplined, that their movements, their researches, and their skill, may concur in producing one common end. The huntsman should know the age and the sex of the animal; he should be able to distinguish with precision, whether the stag he has harangued with his hound be a knocker, a young stag, in his fifth or seventh year, or an old stag. The chief marks which convey this intelligence is derived from the foot, and the excrement. The foot of the stag is better formed than that of the hind, or female. Her leg is more grofs and nearer the heel. The impressions of his feet are rounder, and further removed from each other. He moves more regularly, and brings the hind foot into the impression made by the fore-foot. But the distance between the steps of the hind are shorter, and her hind-feet strike not so regularly the track of the fore feet. As soon as the stag acquires his fourth horns, he is easily distinguished; but to know the foot of a young stag from that of a hind, requires repeated experience. Stags of six, seven, &c., years, Cervus are still more easily known; for their fore-foot is much larger than the hind foot; the older they are, the sides of their feet are the more worn; the distance of their steps are more regular than those of young stags; they always place their hind-foot exactly in the track of the fore-foot, excepting, when they shed their horns, the old stags misplace, at this season, nearly as often as the young ones; but in this they are more regular than the hind or young stag, placing the hind foot always at the side of the fore-foot, and never beyond or within it. When the huntsman, from the dryness of the season, or other circumstances, cannot judge by the foot, he is obliged to trace the animal backwards, and endeavour to find his dung. This mark requires, perhaps, greater experience than the knowledge of the foot; but without it the huntsman would be unable to give a proper report to the company. After the report of the huntsman, and the dogs are led to the refuge of the stag, he ought to encourage his hound, and make him rest upon the track of the stag, till the animal be unharrowed. Instantly the alarm is given to uncouple the dogs, which ought to be enlivened by the voice and the horn of the huntsman. He should also diligently observe the foot of the stag, in order to discover whether the animal has started, and substituted another in his place. But it is then the business of the hunters to separate also, and to recall the dogs which have gone astray after false game. The huntsman should always accompany his dogs, and encourage, without pressing them too hard. He should assist them in detecting all the arts of escape used by the stag; for this animal has remarkable address in deceiving the dogs. With this view, he often returns twice or thrice upon his former steps; he endeavours to raise hinds or younger stags to accompany him, and draw off the dogs from the object of their pursuit; he then flies with redoubled speed, or springs off at side, lies down on his belly, and conceals himself. In this case, when the dogs have lost his foot, the huntsmen, by going backwards and forwards, assist them in recovering it. But if they cannot find it, they suppose that he is retreating within the circuit they have made, and go in quest of him. But if they are still unable to discover him, there is no other method left, but, from viewing the country, to conjecture where he may have taken refuge, and repair to the place. As soon as they have recovered his foot, and put the dogs upon the track, they pursue with more advantage, because they perceive that the stag is fatigued. Their ardour augments in proportion to his feebleness; and their scent becomes more distinct as the animal grows warm. Hence they redouble their cries and their speed; and though the stag practises still more arts of escape than formerly, as his swiftness is diminished, his arts and doublings become gradually less effectual. He has now no other resource but to fly from the earth which he treads, and get into the waters, in order to cut off the scent from the dogs. The huntsmen go round these waters, and again put the dogs on the track of his foot. The stag, after taking to the water, is incapable of running far, and is soon at bay. But he still attempts to defend his life, and often wounds the dogs, and even the huntsmen when too forward, by blows with his horns, till one of them cuts his hams. hams to make him fall, and then puts an end to his life by a blow of a hanger. They now celebrate the death of the stag by a flourish of their horns; the dogs are allowed to trample upon him, and at last partake richly of the victory by devouring his flesh.

4. The Tarandus, or Rein-deer, is a native of Lapland, and the northern parts of Eprope, Asia, and America. The horns are large, cylindrical, brauched, and palmated at the tops. Two of the branches hang over the face. He is about the size of a buck, of a dirty whitish colour; the hairs of his skin are thick and strong. To the Laplanders this animal is the substitute of the horse, the cow, the goat, and the sheep; and is their only wealth; the milk affords them cheese; the flesh, food; the skin, clothing; the tendons, bowstrings; and when split, thread; the horns, glue; the bones, spoons. During the winter it supplies the want of a horse, and draws their sledges with amazing swiftness over the frozen lakes and rivers, or over the snow, which at that time covers the whole country. A rich Laplander is possessed of a herd of 1000 rein deer. In autumn they seek the highest hills, to avoid the Lapland gad-fly, which at that time deposits its eggs in their skin; it is the pest of these animals, and numbers die that are thus visited. The moment a single fly appears, the whole herd instantly perceives it; they fling up their heads, toss about their horns, and at once attempt to fly for shelter amidst the snows of the loftiest Alps. In summer they feed on several plants; but during winter on the rein-liverwort, which lies far beneath the snow, which they remove with their feet and palmated brow antlers, in order to get at their beloved food.

The Samoieds, less intelligent than the Laplanders, consider them in no other view than as animals of draught, to convey them to the chase of the wild reins; which they kill for the sake of the skins, either to clothe themselves, or to cover their tents. They know not the cleanly delicacy of the milk or cheese; but prefer for their repast the intestines of beasts, or the half-putrid flesh of a horse, ox, or sheep, which they find dead on the high road.—The Koreki, a nation of Kamtschatka, may be placed on a level with the Samoieds. They keep immense herds of reins; some of the richest to the amount of 10 or 20 thousand; yet so forlorn are they as to eat none except such as they kill for the sake of the skins; an article of commerce with their neighbours the Kamtschatkans; otherwise they content themselves with the flesh of those which die by disease or chance. They train them in the fledge, but neglect them for every domestic purpose. Their historian says, they couple two to each carriage; and that the deer will travel 150 versts in a day, that is, 112 English miles. They castrate the males by piercing the spermatic arteries, and tying the scrotum tight with a thong.—The savage and uninformed Eskimaux and Greenlanders, who possess, amidst their snows, these beautiful animals, neglect not only the domestic uses, but even are ignorant of their advantage in the fledge. Their element is properly the water; their game the seals. They seem to want powers to domesticate any animals except dogs. They are at enmity with all; consider them as an object of chase, and of no utility till deprived of life. The flesh of the rein is the most coveted part of their food; they eat it raw, dressed, and dried and smoked with the snow lichen. The wearied hunters will drink the raw blood; but it is usually dressed with the berries of the heath; they eagerly devour the contents of the stomach, but use the intestines boiled. They are very fond of the fat, and will not lose the least bit. The skin, sometimes a part of their clothing, dressed with the hair on, is soft and pliant; it forms also the inner lining of their tents, and most excellent blankets. The tendons are their bowstrings, and when split are the threads with which they sew their jackets.

The Greenlanders, before they acquired the knowledge of the gun, caught them by what was called the clapper-bunt. The women and children surrounded a large space, and, where people were wanting, set up poles capped with a turf in certain intervals, to terrify the animals; they then with great noise drove the reins into the narrow defiles, where the men lay in wait and killed them with harpoons or darts. But they are now become very scarce.

The rein-deers are found in the neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay, in most amazing numbers, columns of eight or ten thousand are seen annually passing from north to south in the months of March and April, driven out of the woods by the musketeers, seeking refreshment on the shore, and a quiet place to drop their young. They go to rut in September, and the males soon after shed their horns; they are at that season very fat, but so rank and milky as not to be eatable. The females drop their young in June, in the most frequented spots they can find; and then they likewise lose their horns. Beasts of prey follow the herds; first, the wolves, who single out the stragglers (for they fear to attack the drove), detach and hunt them down: the foxes attend at a distance, to pick up the offals left by the former. In autumn the deer with the fawns emigrate northward. The Indians are very attentive to their motions; for the rein forms the chief part not only of their dress but of their food. They often kill multitudes for the sake of their tongues only; but generally they separate the flesh from the bones, and preserve it by drying it in the smoke; they also save the fat, and sell it to the English in bladders, who use it in frying instead of butter. The skins are also an article of commerce, and used in London by the Breeches-makers. The Indians shoot them in the winter. The English make hedges with stakes and boughs of trees along the woods for five miles in length, leaving openings at proper intervals beset with snares, in which multitudes are taken. The Indians also kill great numbers during the seasons of migration, watching in their canoes, and spearing them while passing over the rivers of the country, or from island to island; for they swim most admirably well.

5. The Dama or Fallow-deer, Buck and Doe; with horns branched, compressed, and palmated at the top. The colour is various; reddish, deep brown, white or spotted. This species is not so universal as the stag; rare in France and Germany. It is found in Greece, the Holy Land, and the north of China. They are very numerous in England; but, except on a few estates, confined in parks. None originally in America. They are easily tamed; and their flesh, which goes by the name of venison, is in high esteem among the luxurious. During rutting-time they will contend with each other for their mistress, but are less fierce than the stag; during that season, the male will form a hole in the ground make the female lie down in it, and then often walk round and smell at her. Moore speaks of a species found on the banks of the Gambia, in the interior parts of Africa, near Barracunda, called Toncong, which he says differed not in form from the English fallow-deer; only that its size was equal to that of a small horse, and weighed 300 lb. It had also on its neck an erect black mane, four or five inches long.—Mr White, in his Natural History of Pelborn, mentions, as a piece of information to naturalists, that if some curious gentleman would procure the head of a fallow deer, and have it dissected, he would find it furnished with two spiracula, or breathing-places, besides the nostrils; probably analogous to the puncta lacrymalia in the human head. When deer are thirsty they plunge their noses, like some horses, very deep under water, while in the act of drinking, and continue them in that situation for a considerable time; but, to obviate any inconvenience, they can open two vents, one at the inner corner of each eye, having a communication with the nose. This seems, as our author observes, to be an extraordinary provision of nature; for it looks as if these creatures could not be suffocated, though their mouths and nostrils were both stopped. This curious formation of the head, he farther remarks, may be of singular service to beasts of chase, by affording them free respiration; and no doubt these additional nostrils are thrown open when they are hard run. Mr Pennant has observed the same curious organization in the antelope. See Capra.

6. The Capreolus, or Roe-buck, has erect, cylindrical, branched horns, and forked at the top. His size is only three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches high before, and two feet seven inches high behind: weight from 50 to 60 lb. Though the least of the deer-kind, his figure is most elegant and handsome. His eyes are more brilliant and animated than those of the stag. His limbs are more nimble, his movements quicker, and he bounds, seemingly without effort, with equal vigour and agility. His coat, or hair, is always clean, smooth, and glossy. He never wallows in the mire like the stag. He delights in dry and elevated situations, where the air is purest. He is likewise more crafty, conceals himself with greater address, is more difficult to trace, and derives superior resources from instinct: for though he has the misfortune to leave behind him a stronger scent than the stag, which redoubles the ardour and appetite of the dogs, he knows how to withdraw himself from their pursuit, by the rapidity with which he begins his flight, and by his numerous doublings. He delays not his arts of defence till his strength fails him; but, as soon as he finds that the first efforts of a rapid chase have been unsuccessful, he repeatedly returns on his former steps; and after confounding, by these opposite movements, the direction he has taken, after intermixing the present with the past emanations from his body, he rises from the earth by a great bound, and, retiring to a side, he lies down flat on his belly; and in this immoveable situation, he allows the whole troop of his deceived enemies to pass very near him.

The roe-deer differs from the stag and fallow-deer in disposition, temperament, manners, and almost every natural habit. Instead of associating in herds, they live in separate families. The father, mother, and young, go together, and never mix with strangers. They are constant in their amours, and never unfaithful like the stag. As the females generally produce two fawns, the one male and the other female, these young animals, brought up and nourished together, acquire so strong a mutual affection, that they never quit each other, unless one of them meets with a misfortune, which never ought to separate lovers. This attachment is more than love; for though always together, they feel the ardour of the rut but once a year, and it continues only fifteen days, commencing at the end of October, and ending before the fifteenth day of November. They are not then, like the stag, overloaded with fat: they have no strong smell, no fury, in a word, nothing that can change the state of their bodies. During this period, they indeed suffer not their fawns to remain with them. The father drives them off, as if he meant to oblige them to yield their place to those which are to succeed, and to form new families for themselves. However, after the rutting season is past, the fawns return to their mother, and remain with her some time; after which they separate for ever, and remove to a distance from the place which gave them birth.

The female goes with young five months and a half, and brings forth about the end of April or beginning of May. She produces two at a time, which she is obliged to conceal from the buck while very young. In 10 or 12 days they acquire strength sufficient to enable them to follow her. When threatened with danger, she hides them in a close thicket, and, to preserve them, presents herself to be chased. But notwithstanding all her care and anxiety, the young are sometimes carried off by men, dogs, or wolves.

Roe-bucks prefer a mountainous woody country to a plain one. They were formerly very common in Wales, in the north of England, and in Scotland; but at present the species nowhere exists in Great Britain except in the Scottish highlands. In France they are more frequent; they are also found in Italy, Sweden, and Norway; and in Asia they are met with in Siberia. The first that are met with in Great Britain are in the woods on the south side of Loch-Rannoch, in Perthshire; the last in those of Longwyal, on the southern borders of Caithness; but they are most numerous in the beautiful forests of Invercauld, in the midst of the Grampian hills. They are unknown in Ireland. Wild roes, during summer, feed on grass; and are very fond of the rubus saxatilis, called in the Highlands the roe-buck berry; but in the winter time, when the ground is covered with snow, they browse on the tender branches of the fir and birch.

7. The Guineen, about the size of a cat, is of a grayish colour, and black underneath. It is a native of Guinea, and the size and figure of its horns have not been hitherto described with any precision.

8. The Axis, or Speckled Deer, has slender trifurcated horns; the first branch near the base, the second near the top, each pointing upwards. This species is about the size of the fallow-deer; of a light red colour; the body beautifully marked with white spots; along along the lower part of the sides, next the belly, is a line of white; the tail long, as that of a fallow-deer; red above, white beneath.—They are common on the banks of the Ganges, and in the isle of Ceylon. Pliny describes them well among the animals of India, and adds that they were sacred to Bacchus. They will bear our climate; and have bred in the prince of Orange's menagerie near the Hague. They are very tame, and have the sense of smelling in an exquisite degree. They readily eat bread, but will refuse a piece that has been breathed on: many other animals of this, the antelope and goat kind, will do the same.

9. The Porcine or Hog Deer, has slender trifurcated horns, 13 inches long: His body is thick and clumsy; his legs are fine and slender: The upper part of the neck, body, and sides, are brown; belly and rump, of a lighter colour.—They are found in Bengal; and called, from the thickness of their body, hog-deer. The same species is also found in Borneo. They are taken in square pit-falls, about four feet deep, covered with some flight materials. Of their feet, as well as those of the lesser species of mulks and antelopes, are made tobacco-stoppers.

10. The Virginiana, or Virginian Deer, has slender horns, bending very much forward; numerous branches on the interior sides; no brow antlers. It is about the size of the English fallow-deer; of a light colour, cinereous brown. A quite distinct species, and peculiar to America. It inhabits all the provinces south of Canada, but in greatest abundance in the southern; but especially the vast savannas contiguous to the Mississippi, and the great rivers which flow into it. They graze in herds innumerable, along with the flags and buffaloes. This species probably extends to Guiana, and is the baiou of that country, which is said to be about the size of a European buck, with short horns, bending at their ends. They are capable of being made tame; and when properly trained, are used by the Indians to decoy the wild deer (especially in the rutting season) within shot. Both bucks and does herd, from September to March; after that they separate, and the does secrete themselves to bring forth, and are found with difficulty. The bucks from this time keep separate till the amorous season of September revolves. The deer begin to feed as soon as night begins; and sometimes, in the rainy season, in the day; otherwise they seldom or never quit their haunts. An old American sportsman has remarked, that the bucks will keep in the thickets for a year, or even two.

These animals are very restless, and always in motion, coming and going continually. Those which live near the shores are lean and bad, subject to worms in their heads and throats, generated from the eggs deposited in those parts. Those that frequent the hills and savannas are in better case, but the venison is dry. In hard winters they will feed on the long moss which hangs from the trees in the northern parts.

These and other cloven-footed quadrupeds of America are very fond of salt, and resort eagerly to the places impregnated with it. They are always seen in great numbers in the spots where the ground has been torn by torrents or other accidents, where they are seen licking the earth. Such spots are called licking-places.

The huntsmen are sure of finding the game there; for notwithstanding they are often disturbed, the buffaloes and deer are so passionately fond of the savoury regale, as to bid defiance to all danger, and return in droves to these favourite haunts.

The deer are of the first importance to the savages. The skins form the greatest branch of their traffic, by which they procure from the colonists, by way of exchange, many of the articles of life. To all of them the flesh is the principal food throughout the year; for drying it over a gentle but clear fire, after cutting it into small pieces, it is not only capable of long preservation, but is very portable in their sudden excursions, especially when reduced to powder, which is frequently done.

Hunting is more than an amusement to these people. They give themselves up to it not only for the sake of subsistence, but to fit themselves for war, by habituating themselves to fatigue. A good huntman is an able warrior. Those who fail in the sports of the field are never supposed to be capable of supporting the hardships of a campaign; they are degraded to ignoble offices, such as dressing the skins of deer, and other employments allotted only to slaves and women. When a large party meditates a hunting-match, which is usually at the beginning of winter, they agree on a place of rendezvous, often 500 miles distant from their homes, and a place perhaps that many of them had never been at. They have no other method of fixing on the spot than by pointing with their finger. The preference is given to the eldest, as the most experienced. When this matter is settled, they separate into small parties, travel and hunt for subsistence all the day, and rest at night; but the women have no certain resting-places. The savages have their particular hunting countries; but if they invade the limits of those belonging to other nations, feuds ensue, fatal as those between Percy and Douglas in the famed Chevy Chase. As soon as they arrive on the borders of the hunting country (which they never fail doing to a man, be their respective routes ever so distant or so various), the captain of the band delineates on the bark of a tree his own figure, with a rattlesnake twined round him with distended mouth; and in his hand a bloody tomahawk. By this he implies a destructive menace to any who are bold enough to invade their territories, or to interrupt their diversion.—The chase is carried on in different ways. Some surplice the deer by using the flake of the head, horns, and hide; but the general method is performed by the whole body. Several hundreds disperse in a line, encompassing a vast space of country; fire the woods, and drive the animals into some strait or peninsula, where they become an easy prey. The deer alone are not the object; foxes, raccoons, bears, and all beasts of fur, are thought worthy of attention, and form articles of commerce with the Europeans.

The number of deer destroyed in some parts of America is incredible; as is pretended, from an absurd idea which the savages have, that the more they destroy, the more they shall find succeeding years. Certain it is that multitudes are destroyed; the tongues only preserved, and the carcases left a prey to wild beasts. But the motive is much more political. savages well discern, that should they overstock the market, they would certainly be over-reached by the European dealers, who take care never to produce more goods than are barely sufficient for the demand of the season, establishing their prices according to the quantity of furs brought by the natives.

*Cervus Velans*, in natural history, a name given by authors to the flag-fly, or horned beetle, a very large species of beetle with horns sloped, and something like those of the flag.