86 MAMMALS. 



now restricted to tlie northern counties and Scotland. It 



is, like the chamois, an alpine species. From Ireland it 

 appears to have been always absent. In the 

 New Forest it is scarce, and the few that 



are there fomid are said to be of comparatively recent 



introduction. 



Two, in very rare cases three, spotted fawns are born in 



^, ,. May or June : and a remarkable phenomenon, 

 Breeding, *^ ' , ^ ' 



known as suspended gestation, is observed in 

 the reproduction of this species. 



The food of the roe-deer is much the same as that of 

 the rest, though it has a special weakness for fungi. 



The antlers of the adult show three points, each the 

 growth of a year. The tail is very short, 

 ppearauce, j^^ colour, the roe-buck is brown, lighter in 

 wdnter ; rump and under-side of tail white. 

 The buck utters a loud bark in presence of danger. Roe- 

 deer are fond of running in circles, and Mr Millais ^ gives a 

 most interesting account of their so-called " playing-rings." 



CHAPTEH VI. THE WHALES AND PORPOISES. 



"When the unscientific world regarded the bat, after its 



kind, as a bird, it also considered the cetaceans in the 



Formerly light of fislies, — a view confirmed by their 



regarded w^atery surroundings, their mode of getting 



as fishes. about, their generally fish -like outline, and 



the nature of their food. It needed the research of 



Linnaeus and others to assign them to their true class 



as warm-blooded creatures, breathing by lungs and bearing 



and nourishing their young in true mammal fashion. 



The food of these cetaceans is very varied, and presents 



1 Millais, British Deer aud their Horus, p. 188. 



