DEEB-STAiKING. 64 necessity varies from those adapted to the black- tail of California and the deer of Louisiana. In the extreme northern forests it is not possible to place or lueate the deer with a lield-glass; their track niusl lie found, and in the snow it is the more easily detected. The hunter, clad in loose woolens from head to foot, threads among the beech and bircli, and balsam and hemlock, until he comes across the sign. This he interprets from experience, for nothing else will teach him. In what direction and at what pace was the deer going! 'a3 it a single stag? How long since had it passed ? These and many other ques- tions must be settled before he begins his quest on his snow-shoes; and even then he will have need of all his wits, for the deer is keen!}- alert to the slightest indication of danger. To baffle the hunter, lie will double back on his track and jump sideways, apparently disappearing into the earth. He will rout up another deer and use him as a catspaw, or, better still, mix with a number of others until all individuality is apparently lost; or he will follow the slot of another deer, or take to the water, or make for a swamp of shell ice and crackling cedar-brush. In the forest- covered hills of northern California, a guide takes a pair of dogs (shepherd dogs, for pref- erence) into the woods, who hunt until they jump a deer. The Inmters dismount and spread out, each taking a position known to the others— r the dogs drive the deer out of the brush, and that hunter who is most favorably situated gets the shot. In Louisiana the deer are hvinted by a pack of hounds, some dozen or so of the large black-and- tan Louisiana deerliounds, with long, drooping ears, low, pendent dewlaps, deep chests, and straiglit tails. They are taken to the scene of the hunt in a wagon. The liuntsnian finds the track in the soft soil on the edge of the live-oak wood; the dogs are put on the trail and dis- appear within its gloomy, moss-hung recesses. The gunners form a skirmish line across from marsh to marsh, and. as the deer is chased within range, he is shot and given the coup dc yracc. or the dogs will eventually pull him down and kill him. In other parts of the South the deer is "fire-hunted,' or 'shined,' in which under- taking the hunters go through the woods at night bearing a blazing light in front; presently its glare strikes the eyes of a deer, which, fasci- nated by it, stands and stares curiously for some time, during which interval the hunters cau- tiously approach and shoot it. In the East Cen- tral and Northern States the deer are 'hounded;' the himter picks out a promising runway, for deer have a well-known fondness for certain routes, and on this he releases the dogs and posts the guns at selected points to await the coming of the deer. When they arc 'still-hunted.' the hunter sets out alone without dog or guide, pick- ing out the track, reading all its lessons, and fol- lowing it through all its sinuosities, until success rewards him. 'Still-hunting' is nearer to flie Scottish stalking than any other form used in America. In the Caucasian Mountains of Russia the deer are 'called.' i. e. the call of the female is imitated by the hunter, and the deer, at- tracted by it, or the diallenge of defiance of one stag to another, brings them to a place where the Inmter has »n opportunity to slioot them. In the province of Hnmbay a very sim])le jmictice is followed bv the natives: Deer arc located and DE FACTO, watched until they have eaten their fill, and lie down to chew the eud. As soon as they are com- pletely settled, the native will very gently break a stick, making just enough noise to rouse the deer and unsettle them, so that they get up and move oil'. As soon as they lie down once more he makes a like noise, and the deer rise again. He continues this, increasing his disturbance, until the food in the deers' stouuvchs, not being properly digested, begins to trouble them, and they become so swollen and uncomfortable that they cannot run, when the hunter shows himself
- iud shoots them. Consult: 'an D3ke, The lied
Deer (New York, 1890) ; Van Dyke, The Still- Hunter (New York, 1S82); Scrope, Days of Deer Stalking (London, 1838) ; Grimble, High- land Sport (London, 1896). DEER-STEALING. In English law, the stat- utory ollen^o of bunting, killing, or carrying off any deer in any forest, chase, or park, whether private and inclosed or public and uninclosed. By the common law, deer at large are /'ercE naturce (wild animals), but the penchant of the Norman kings and their immediate followers for the hunting of deer caused that animal to be invested with a peculiar sacredness. and led at a very early period to the enactment of stringent forest and game laws for their protection. The matter is now regulated by a series of game laws, begin- ning with 16 George III,, c, 30. See Forest; G.VilK L.VWS; Po.CHING. DE FACTO (Lat.). A legal phrase, signify- ing actiml, based on fact; as distinguished from de jure, which means based on law. It is eon- monly employed of the occipancy of public olTice or the exercise of political or other authority without legal warrant or by one whose legal title thereto is defective. Under a government of law, a merely de facto authority may always be impeached, the proper legal remedy in Eng- land and in the United States being by the com- mon-law- writ of quo warranto, issued by a court of competent iurisdietion, to bring the offender into court and inquire liy what warrant' he has presumed to exercise the office or authority in question. L'sed in this general sense, as opposed to a dc jure, or lawful, authority, the exercise of de facto authority is always a tisurjiation, and it maintains this character so long as it continues, or imtil it is legalized by j)roper legislative or other authority. Any public office, administra- tive, legislative, or judicial, may be usurped and its pow-ers exercised by de facto authority; but the phrase has no application to the case of an excessive or other illegal exercise of power by a duly constituted authority, which does not amount to an assmnption of any other office than that w-hich it ))ossesses. Nor does mere usurp.a- tion of an office without the actual exercise of its functions constitute the usurper an officer de facto. The authority claimed must be effective and actually exercised in order to give it the de facto character. It is in this general sense of a power actually exercised, but without legal authority, that the term dc facto is employed in international and constitutional law. It is thus applied to a revolutionary government, as the Continental Congress — whose nets gained Iciral sanction through the success of the Colonies and the recog- nition of their indejicndence by Great Britain —
