Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsLee, R., Mrs.
General
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals
Lee, R., Mrs.
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature
Deer are still to be found wild in Scotland, but most rarely in England;
in the north of Europe and America they are common, and those which
frequent cold countries have the antlers much flattened, as if to shovel
away the snow; they will sometimes weigh 60 lbs. These animals are every
where tenacious of life, and will run a long way after being hit in a
mortal part.
Rein-deer, which form the wealth of the Laplanders, serve them for food
and clothing, draw them over pathless fields of snow in safety, and are
the only species really domesticated. They eat a lichen which they find
under the snow, during the winter, and live together in large herds.
They are the least handsome of the whole tribe; are perfectly obedient,
and one man sometimes possesses as many as two thousand. Their joints
crack as they move, and they are extremely fond of salt; even taking it
from the hands of strangers. They usually run at the rate of ten English
miles the hour, but have gone nineteen, and draw a weight of 300 lbs;
but they require good driving, and sometimes dash on, perfectly
regardless of the comfort of those in the sledge. Their smell is very
acute; and by it they are enabled to come up with their party, if they
should have been left behind. They suffer intensely from insects,
especially from a large species (_œstrus tarandi_), which deposits its
eggs in the hole made by its bite. In order to avoid these pests, the
rein-deer are driven during the summer months to the mountains which
overhang the coasts, where their foes are much less numerous. They are
so terrified at their approach, that the sight of one will make them
furious.
Mr. Wentzel says that the Dog-rib Indians go in pairs to kill rein-deer,
the foremost carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin of a
head of the deer, and in the other, a small bundle of twigs, against
which he, from time to time, rubs the horns, as the deers do. His
companion follows exactly in his footsteps, holding the guns of both in
a horizontal position; so that the muzzle of each projects under the arm
of the first. Both have a fillet of white skin round their foreheads,
and the foremost a strip of the same round each wrist. They gradually
approach the herd, raise their legs very slowly, and put them down again
suddenly, in the manner of deer.
If any of the herd see them, they stop, and the head is made to play its
part by copying their movements. By these means the hunters get into the
very centre of the herd without exciting suspicion; the hindmost man
then pushes forward his comrade's gun, and both fire nearly at the same
instant. The deer scamper off, the hunters trot after them; the poor
animals soon halt to see what alarmed them; their enemies have reloaded
their guns as they proceeded, and give them a second discharge. The
consternation of the deer increases, they run about in the utmost
confusion, and the greater number are frequently thus destroyed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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