84 Mr. J. E. Harting on Forest Animals. 



to the effect that the dark-coloured variety is said to have 

 been introduced from Norway by James I., can hardly be 

 deemed correct. He imported some, no doubt ; in 1612 '■■'- they 

 were landed in Scotland, and were afterwards transferred to 

 Epping Forest and Enfield Chase. But we learn from 

 Leland that there were dark-coloured deer in England 

 long before that date.f Indeed, on this point I have lately 

 come across a much older authority than Leland, who 

 commenced his " Itinerary " in 1533. 



Sixty-eight years before that date — namely, in 1465 — the 

 Baron Leo von Eozmita], brother to the Queen of Bohemia, 

 visited England, and a most interesting record of his visit, 

 in the shape of an Itinerary written by one of his suite, 

 has fortunately been preserved to us, although, as may be 

 supposed, copies are extremely rare. In this journal, 

 which is in Latin, it is stated that, amongst other places 

 named, he visited Windsor Park, where he was particu- 

 larly struck with the great number of fallow-deer, which 

 are described as being black, white, and spotted. Thus 

 we have evidence of the existence of this dark variety 

 of fallow-deer in England long before the time of James I. 



Another statement, which has more than ones found its 

 way into print,! to the effect that the spotted variety of 

 this deer was produced by crossing with the axis-deer 

 brought from Bengal by Capt. Gough in 1742, is incre- 

 dible ; the two animals belonging to such widely- different 

 genera, it is not likely that they would interbreed. More- 

 over, we know, from the Itinerary above quoted, 

 that the spotted variety existed in England in 1465. 

 James I., too, sent some as a present to the King of France 

 in 1608, more than a century before the introduction of 

 Capt. Cough's axis- deer. § 



With regard to the reproduction of the fallow-deer, 

 the growth and shedding of its horns, and its food, the 



* See Devon's Issues of the Exchequer (Pell Records), p. 150. 

 t Leland's " Itinerary," vol. vii., page 40, folio 50. 

 I Daniel, "Rural Sports," Supplement, p. 693. Scott, "British 

 Field Sports," p. 380. 



§ Shirley, " English Deer Parks," p. 'J. 



