Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1913 — FASCINATED BY THE RAILS [ARTICLE]

FASCINATED BY THE RAILS

Only Explanation for the Persistency With .Which Animals Stay in Front of Moving Trains. As the engineer in charge of a railroad 'track running through the Megantic, Que., district, was over his division in a track car propelled by a gasoline engine!, he Baw a fine deer on the track before him. His bridge inspector, who accompanied him, being a keen sportsman, at once sent the car along at full speed after the swiftly flying animal. These cars are supposed to be able to run along at the rate of thirty miles an hour, so that although the deer had a good start it was caught up with after about a mile’s racing. For . fear of a smash-up resulting from a rear-end collision, the foreman slacked up as the car came up to the frightened creature, and both men shouted vigorously to it to clear the track. The only result was another spurt of speed,/.Which was kept up until the nimble feet slipped through a high trestle, and the helpless deer, a three-year-old male, was made into venison. The curious feature of this not unexciting hunting was the persistency with which the stag kept to the track between the rails, instead of turning 'aside to the safety which a bound or two would have afforded in the bush. The engineer, in reporting the occurrence, says that three or four times during the past summer he has been obliged to stop his motor car to get the deer-to leave the track. This, and the fact that the engine drivers say that they have several times run down moose and deer in hunting districts led to an enthusiastic sportsman doing a little investgating on his own account. From personal experience, and much information received a very in.-, genious explanation of the refusal of the deer to leave the track between the metals has been deduced. . It is a fact known to experimentalists, that if a chicken’s 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 it. So it appears that when fear is driving from behind, the two shining rails from the right and left have a fascinating 01/ hypnotizing effect upon deer, and as long as they are kept moving swiftly they are unable to turn to either side.