Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-05
MET AN OLD FRIEND
AoTAEoN, THE wHITE-TAILED
DEER, FOUND IN THE WOODS.
Recognized His Former Benefactor
and Followed Him Back to
His Home
Written for The Star.

Readers of this series will doubtless re-
member Actaeon. the little whte-tailed fawn
which. after having broken Its leg, was
picked up by a guide in the Blue Mountain
forest and turned over to me to study.
They may remember. too. that the broken
bone knit perfectly, and that the fawn be-
came as tame as kitten, remaining close
to the house at all times, and occasionally
even jumping through the windows when
threatened by danger, real or imagined
At first the fawn was reddish in color
and beautifully spotted with white, but as
the summer passed the spots disappeared.
and the cold weather approached the
reddish coat was changed for thicker and
warmSr grayish brown one All winter he
stayed with us. coming on the piazzas every
day to be fed, and sleeping in the snow,
quite at his ease, even when the thermom-
eter registered twenty-five degree below
zero.
Often we would look out of the window
to see him lying with his head alone stick
Ing out above the snow. under which the
rest of his body was completely buried
Sometimes his face would be sheathed IN
Ice and icicles would be hanging from his
chin and his eyelashes, but he would go on
chewing the cud calmly as COW In a
clover field on summer evening: II we
tapped on the window he would turn his
head, stop chewing and rise to his feet,
stretching himself to take out the kinks.
Then he would give his body a vigorous
shake sending the snow flying away In
shower, and looking brown once more he
would come to the window and stand on his
hind legs to reach a slice Of bread held out
to him Thus he spent the winter, varying
the monotony Of his life by romping with
a bear and tame wolf, his only playmates.
Returned to His Native Forest.
Early this spring we decided to return
Actaeon to his native forest, and this was a
simple matter, as the fence which surrounds
this great game preserve runs along the end
of our garden, whence we can enter 1t by
a gate So into the forest he went, and
with him a goodly store of bread, potatoes
and other things which deer will eat. for
the grass had not yet begun to come up,
and he had had little experience In forag-
ing himself At first he would not leave
the vicinity of the gate, and spent most of
his time walking up and down in front
of the house. BY and by, however, he got
over his restlessness and wandered off
to see the world a bit. But some time, In
the course of each day, he was seen max
ing his way to the gate to eat the food
which he knew would be waiting for him.
But in May, when everything was green,
and when grass and browse were to be
found on every hand, Actaeon scorned bread
and potatoes and struck deep into the for
est. Seldom indeed did we get glimpse
of him now, for he seldom returned to the
gate and we were not often in that part
of the forest in the weeks which followed.
Meeting With Actaeon.
Last week. camera in hand, 1 was walk
ing softly through the woods, searching
for doe elk. which I had seen half an
hour before from distant hilltop, and
which I suspected had a fawn hidden
thereabouts Suddenly caught glimpse
of red on the ground under a tree, but as
I stopped to look more carefully 1 saw that
1t was not an elk fawn, but handsome
young buck deer / dropped to the ground
behind messy knoll, and then, crawling
quietly to the top of 1t, 1 was able to ex-
anime him at leisure.
One look was enough to show me that he
was my old friend Actaeon. When one be
comes really very familiar with an indi-
vidual animal 1t is surprising how different
1t looks from others of the same species
At a distance Actaeon might look very much
like other white-tailed bucks, but If he were
near enough for me to see his features l
could distinguish him instantly from any
one of ten thousand other Virginia deer
So I called him very softly, and he started
and turned his great dark eyes in my d.
rection His ears were bent to catch the
slightest repetition of the sound he had
heard. and he caught 1t, for louder now l
spoke his name, and then l arose from my
hiding place. Instantly he sprang to his
feet, his white tail flew up In the air until
l could see nothing but the white under
side of it. and he was about to dash away
among the trees. when l spoke again and
ped swung from side to side few times
and then he STROBE out to meet me.
Recognized as Old Friend.
After advancing a few yards he stopped
shook his tail, moved his head to the right
and left time or two, as il to make quite
he was not mistaken, and then he
came up and began licking my hand and
the sleeve of my shirt. And l stroked and
patted and admired him. for he was mar
velously beautiful. Not shred OF his long
winter coat remained: he was clad in his
1ne red summer pelage, which displayed
his graceful, sinewy form to the best ad-
vantage, and gaze him a look of great re-
fnement, especially about the head, the
beautiful modelling of which had been COM
pletely hidden by the heavy coat of brown
hair which had lately fallen from him
And upon his head were growing his
nrst antlers, already six inches long They
were thick and blunt at the ends, and COW
cred with the velvet, and looked much like
the bark of staghorn sumach They were
warm to the touch, and the young buck
seemed TO enjoy having them rubbed for
when I took hold of them he lowered his
head and pushed them into my hands as
though to get the full benefit of the rub
bling.
Followed His Benefactor Home.
By and by he began to browse, and I
took several photographs OF him as he
moved about among the trees. Then 1
babe him goodbye and started for home
but he did not let me get far before he
came bounding after me. Over hills, across
brooks and through the swamps he fol-
lowed lingering here and there to nibble
leaf or tuft of grass, while / never tired
of photographing him whenever he took
pose which l admired. But often, as I
sought to get into a better position for my
purpose. he would spoil my plans by trot-
ting up to me and rubbing his head
against the camera.
He followed me straight home to the
gate Of the reservation, and would have
followed me to the house and into the
dining room had 1 allowed him to. AS 1t
was. 1 went and brought him some bread
and raw potatoes. He hardly looked at
either of these. but some candy which 1
brought him later he took very daintily
from paper bag. into which he thrust his
slender nose Then l went out and locked
the gate. and soon I saw him turn and
walk briskly away in the direction of the
woodland.
ERNEST HAROLD BAYNEs.