NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 71 



three principal ranges, and certainly possess, beyond all com- 

 parison, {he most elevated points in the island. The first of 

 these ranges is considerably to the west of Lough Lane ; it 

 extends almost to Cahirsiveen in Dingle Bay, and is called 

 Macgillicuddy's Reeks ; Carran Tual, the highest point of 

 these, being 3,400 feet above the level of the sea. The se- 

 cond range is also to the west of the lakes, and immediately 

 between them and the Reeks, being separated from the latter 

 by an opening called the Gap of Dunloe ; this range is called 

 the Tomies, and includes the Purple Mountain and Glena. — 

 The third range is to the south-east of the lakes, and is usu- 

 ally denominated the Turk Range ; its highest points are 

 Mangerton and Turk. On all these mountains that rare and 

 beautiful animal, the red deer, exists in his native freedom ; 

 and is said to feed on a species of lichen which is here very 

 abundant. I was told that on Turk herds of several hundreds 

 were occasionally seen. It is thought strange that this fine 

 animal will not breed in parks and enclosures ; but when we 

 recollect that in a state of nature he only frequents the sum- 

 mits of the barest mountains, and possesses unbounded free- 

 dom ; — that restraint to him is like the chain to the eagle, an 

 indignity his proud heart cannot brook; — that in confine- 

 ment he becomes fretful, impatient, and savage; — we can 

 scarcely wonder that he fails to propagate his kind, and lives 

 always hating and generally hated by the creatures wi.h 

 whom he may chance to come in contact. Very great pains 

 have been taken in Kerry to preserve the red deer, but it is 

 found that their numbers are fast decreasing. Lord Bantry 

 has paid great attention to them at his seat on Bantry Bay, 

 where everything has been done to secure them from moles- 

 tation ; but for some years not a single fawn has been ob- 

 served. I saw a noble stag on his lordship's estate, a few 

 days after leav ing Killarney ; it was at some distance, and I 

 at first took it for a bay horse quietly browzing on the moun- 

 tain-side. The horns and heads of red deer which adorn 

 Lord Ban try's residence, would furnish half the museums in 

 the kingdom. A head, placed over the entrance, is consider- 

 ably larger than that of a donkey ; which would imply the 

 possession of a body nearly twice as large as that of the quad- 

 ruped from Jerusalem. Several of the noblemen and gentle- 

 men round Killarney have attempted to rear the red deer in 

 their enclosures, by taking them when very young; but it is 

 next to impossible to effect the capture of a fawn, without 

 doing it some mortal injury : a heavy blow with a stick or a 

 stone will so injure one of the delicate little creatures, that it 

 frequently dies in consequence of the wound. Still, however, 



