valuable animal. Much of the buckskin of
commerce is the product of its hides, and the horns are put to many
uses. Its flesh, besides supplying the tables of the wealthy, has been
for centuries almost the whole sustenance of whole nations of Indians.
Its skins have furnished them with tents, beds, and clothing; its
intestines with bowstrings, ball "raquets," and snow-shoes; and in the
chase of this creature they have found almost their sole occupation as
well as amusement.

With so many enemies, it is a matter of wonder that this species has not
long been extirpated; not only has man been its constant and persevering
destroyer, but it has a host of enemies besides, in the cougar, the
lynxes, the wolverine, and the wolves.

The last are its worst foes. Hunters state that for one deer killed by
themselves, five fall a prey to the wolves. These attack the young and
feeble, and soon run them down. The old deer can escape from a wolf by
superior speed; but in remote districts, where the wolves are numerous,
they unite in packs of eight or ten, and follow the deer as hounds do,
and even with a somewhat similar howling. They run by the nose, and
unless the deer can reach water, and thus escape them, they will tire it
down in the end.

Frequently the deer, when thus followed in winter, makes for the ice,
upon which he is soon overtaken by his hungry pursuers.

Notwithstanding all this, the American deer is still common in most of
the States, and in some of them even plentiful. Where the wolves have
been thinned off by "bounty" laws, and the deer protected during the
breeding season by legislative enactments, as is the case in New York,
their number is said to be on the increase. The markets of all the
great cities in America are supplied with venison almost as cheap as
beef, which shows that the deer are yet far from being scarce.

The habits of this creature are well-known. It is gregarious in its
natural _habitat_. The herd is usually led by an old buck, who watches
over the safety of the others while feeding. When an enemy approaches,
this sentinel and leader strikes the ground sharply with his hoofs,
snorts loudly, and emits a shrill whistle; all the while fronting the
danger with his horns set forward in a threatening manner. So long as
he does not attempt to run, the others continue to browse with
confidence; but the moment their leader starts to fly, all the rest
follow, each trying to be foremost.

Th