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Chapter Twenty Two. Deer - Book of Zoology for Boys by Mayne Reid

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 détours 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.

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