CHAPTER XV.
DEER.
The deer, although the mildest of all animals, has still its own feelings of malignancy; when hard pressed by the hounds it flies of its own accord for refuge to man. The deer exercise the young ones in running, and teach them how to take to flight, leading them to precipices, and showing them how to leap. When the stags feel themselves becoming too fat, they seek some retired spot, thus acknowledging the inconvenience arising from their bulk. Besides this, they continually pause in their flight, stand still and look back, and then again resume their flight, when the enemy approaches. The barking of a dog instantly puts them to flight, and they always run with the wind, in order that no trace of them may be left. They are soothed by the shepherd’s pipe and his song; when their ears are erect, their sense of hearing is very acute, but when dropped, they become deaf.
In other respects the deer is a simple animal, which regards everything as wonderful, and with a stupid astonishment; so much so, that if a horse or cow happens to approach it, it will not see the hunter, who may be close at hand, or, if it does see him, it only gazes upon his bow and arrow. Deer cross the sea in herds, swimming in a long line, the head of each resting on the haunches of the one that precedes it, each in its turn falling back to the rear. This has been particularly remarked when they pass over from Cilicia to the island of Cyprus. Though they do not see the land, they still are able to direct themselves by the smell. The males have horns, and are the only animals that shed them every year, at a stated time in the spring; at which period they seek out with the greatest care the most retired places, and after losing them, remain concealed, as though aware that they are unarmed. They also bear the marks of their age on the horns, every year, up to the sixth,[102] a fresh antler being added; after which period the horns are renewed in the same state, so that by means of them their age cannot be ascertained. Their old age, however, is indicated by their teeth, for then they have only a few, or none at all; and we then no longer perceive, at the base of their horns, antlers projecting from the front of the forehead, as is usually the case with the animal when young.
CARIBOU.—Larandus Rangifer.
When the horns begin to be reproduced, two projections are to be seen, much resembling, at first, dry skin; they grow with tender shoots, having upon them a soft, velvety down like that on the head of a reed. So long as they are without horns, they go to feed during the night. As the horns grow, they harden by the heat of the sun, and the animal, from time to time, tries their strength upon the trees; when satisfied with their strength, it leaves its retreat.
Stags, too, have been occasionally caught with ivy, green and growing, on their horns,[103] the plant having taken root on them, as it would on any piece of wood, while the animal was rubbing them against the trees. The stag is sometimes found white, as is said to have been the case with the hind of Sertorius, which he persuaded the nations of Spain to look upon as having the gift of prophecy.
The stag is generally admitted to be very long lived; some were captured at the end of one hundred years with the golden collars which Alexander the Great had put upon them, and which were quite concealed by the folds of the skin, in consequence of the accumulation of fat.[104]
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CHAMELEON.
Africa is almost the only country that does not produce the stag, but it produces the chameleon, which, however, is much more commonly met with in India. Its figure and size are that of a lizard, only that its legs are straight and longer. Its sides unite under its belly, as in fishes, and its spine projects in a similar manner. Its muzzle is not unlike the snout of a small hog, so far as it can be in so small an animal. Its tail is very long, and becomes smaller towards the end, coiling up in folds like that of the viper. It has hooked claws, and a slow movement like that of the tortoise; its body is rough like that of the crocodile; its eyes are deep sunk in the orbits, placed very near each other, very large, and of the same color as the body. It never closes them, and when the animal looks round, it does so, not by the motion of the pupil, but of the white of the eye. It always holds the head upright and the mouth open, and is the only animal which receives nourishment neither by meat nor drink, nor anything else, but from the air alone.[105] Towards the end of the dog-days it is fierce, but at other times quite harmless. The nature of its color, too, is very remarkable, for it is continually changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always assuming the color of whatever object is nearest, with the exception of white and red.[106] After death, it becomes of a pale color. It has a little flesh about the head, the jaws, and the root of the tail, but none whatever on the rest of the body. It has no blood whatever, except in the heart and about the eyes, and its entrails are without a spleen. It conceals itself during the winter months, just like the lizard.