Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-25
HYPNOTIzED DEER.
Hunted Creatures That Seem Unable
to Get Off Railroad Track.

| From the New York Sun
! AS civil engineer in charge of rail-
| road in the Megantic district, near Hull,
| Canada was going over his division in a
| track car propelled by a gas engine last
week, he saw a fine deer on the track be-
| fore him. The car was sent along at full
| speed and it caught up with the deer after
a miles race.
For fear Of smashup the foreman
slackened up as the came up to the
frightened creature and both men shouted
vigorously to 1t to clear the track. The
only result was another squirt Of speed
which the deer kept UP until it's feet slip
ped through high trestle. Then the deer,
| three-year-old male. was made into veni-
son.
The curious feature of this hunt was the
persistence with which the deer kept to
the track between the rails instead Of turn
ing aside to the safety which a bound or
two would have afforded in the bush.
The engineer, in reporting the occurrence,
! said that three times last summer he was
obliged to stop his motor car in order to
get deer to leave the line. This report
and the fact that engine drivers say that
they have several times run down moose
and deer racing before them led an enthu-
| siastic sportsman to do little investigating
on his own account From personal ex-
perience and much information received. a
very ingenious explanation of this curious
habit has been educed,
1t is fact known to some children that
If chickens bill is held to the floor to a
chalk line drawn straight before it, the
bird becomes fascinated and apparently
| unable to withdraw itself from 1t. So it
appears that when fear is driving from be-
hind, the two straight shining lines Of
track on the right and left have fasci-
| mating or hypnotic effect upon deer, and
| that as long as they are kept moving swift
| ly they are unable to turn to either side.
The driver Of fast freight train in the
Gatineau valley drove a pair of deer TWEEN
than an hour lately. At the end Of their
run one of the deer collapsed and fell
The other stood stupidity staring at the big
engine as 1t stopped, but when the men
descended it jumped away and'escaped
The deadly fascination of the steel rails
was well exemplified on the Kazubagua
plains, in the same region, this week, when
| grand pair Of Scotch stag hounds We're
seen passing through the open country
! from the north, driving a deer before them
along the track of the railway.
Without needing the shouts Of the men
! at the station, the hunted thing. which had
| evidently come from a long distance. bound
| ed along with some difficulty, following all
| the curves Of the track down to the Stag
creek bridge, through which 1t tripped, and
was then killed by the hounds.
The section men on the Pontiac railroad
chased little herd Of three deer for some
miles with their handcar, and drove them
] right up to an approaching engine. AS
| the men stopped to lift the machine clear
| Of the track, the deer slackened their speed,
| looking helpless to right and left as they
| ran on, as though afraid to cross the shin
| ing rails. Thus they allowed the engine to
send them all to destruction.
Probably at night 1t Is the glare Of the
| powerful headlight that attracts, confuses
| and then hypnotizes the deer into helpless
| stiffness Old engineers are well aware of
| the hypnotizing effect of the headlight Of
| an engine upon members Of the deer fam
| lily, and will. when possible, stop and drive
| the creatures aside.
In the course of conversation some Of
| these men recited many instances Of run
: had become fixed upon it, stood as though
paralyzed in the fierce light Of the locomo-
| tive. One Of them spoke Of having on two
occasions actually pushed deer from before
| his freight train, the bewildered creature
| having apparently lost all power Of move
| rnant