226 COMMON imiTISll ANIMALS 



is also found at Rosehall in Sutherland, in Central 

 Argyll, and at Drumlanrig in Dumfriesshire. 



The fallow deer was not introduced into Ireland 

 till the Middle Ages, but it is now found wild in many 

 parts of Tipperary, Clare, Waterford, Cork and Kerry. 



In parks the fallow deer may be seen in small 

 parties of one sex, except during the breeding season. 

 Their food consists principally of grass and leaves of 

 trees. They are particularly partial to chestnuts, 

 and will also eat thorn and ash bark, and, when food 

 is scarce, holly and ivy. They are more restless 

 than red deer, feeding more frequently, and taking- 

 shorter ruminating intervals. In winter they are on 

 the move all day long. 



Their horns are shed in Ma}^, the older bucks 

 losing theirs first ; the growth is complete in 

 August and rubbed clean of its velvet by Septem- 

 ber. The breeding season is in October, when the 

 bucks, fight for their wives, but they rarely kill one 

 another as stags do. In the following year in June 

 the doe produces one fawn. Old bucks become 

 exceedingly cunning and for this reason are difficult 

 to shoot. Mr. Millais speaks of one old white buck 

 at Warn ham, who invariably left the pack when 

 buck shooting began in September and always 

 returned over the deer fence at the end of October. 

 They have very keen senses both of seeing and 

 smelling and will avoid roads, or any human track. 

 Often when moving they will take a leap into the 

 air as if to avoid a trap. They are also very good 

 jumpers, though their horizontal leap is not so wide 

 as that of the red deer. 



