THE DOMESTICATION OF DEER.

A number of species of the deer family have been proved to be
susceptible to domestication. The reindeer, however, is the only one
that has been brought fully under the control of man. The fact that the
European red deer and the fallow deer have been bred in parks for
centuries without domestication does not prove that they are less
susceptible to the process than the reindeer. The purposes for which
they have been held captive and the environment given them have been
markedly different. It must be remembered, also, that few attempts have
been made to rear and domesticate deer under intelligent management. The
work has been largely a matter of chance experiment. If they had been as
long under careful management as cattle, they would now, probably, be
equally plastic in the hands of a skillful breeder.

But raising deer for profit does not necessarily imply their complete
domestication. They may be kept in large preserves with surroundings as
nearly natural as possible and their domestication entirely ignored.
Thus the breeder may reap nearly all the profit that could be expected
from a domestic herd, while the animals escape most of the dangers
incident to close captivity. But the breeder who aims at the ultimate
domestication of the animals, and whose herd approaches nearest to true
domesticity, will in the end be most successful.

SPECIES TO BE SELECTED FOR BREEDING.

The number of species of deer suited for breeding in inclosures in the
United States is great, though the chances for success are by no means
the same for all. As a rule those native to America are to be preferred,
since they are already acclimated. In selecting any species, similarity
between its natural habitat and that to which it is to be transferred
must be considered. Important, also, is its adaptability to varied
conditions, as shown by former attempts to acclimatize it.

Unless they have shown a peculiar adaptability to such change, deer
should not be taken from arid parts of the United States to humid parts.
To a disregard of this principle are probably due many of the failures
that have attended experiments in breeding the American antelope, the
Columbia blacktail deer, the moose, and other animals in places
differing widely from their natural ranges.

The history of attempts to acclimatize the several kinds of deer shows
that some readily adapt themselves to a great variety of conditions, and
efforts to