ANTELOPES AND DEER 123 



other hard material. As soon as the horns are free from velvet a 

 change of disposition takes place with the bucks, for instead of 

 herding peacefully together as they have done since shedding the 

 old horns, they become quarrelsome, and by the middle of Sep- 

 tember their necks increase in size and strength, a provision Nature 

 has made fitting them for the fierce fights about to take place with 

 their fellows for the ownership of, and mating with, the does. 



It is the finest and fittest bucks that take possession of the does ; 

 one buck will often take all the does in a small park and keep 

 other bucks at a distance for a time; however, as the rutting season 

 advances and his strength decreases, another will probably soon 

 take his place. So fierce are the fights at this time that it is not 

 unusual for bucks to get killed by being gored to death, and when 

 one gets badly disabled he is sure to be killed by others perhaps not 

 in the first quarrel. I have frequently known a buck that has been 

 killed in this way to have his lungs pierced through, although it 

 is seldom that the tough hide is punctured, the points of the horns 

 only being pushed through the vital parts. As the rutting season 

 advances the fine condition so rapidly gained is as quickly lost, and 

 by the end of October the Deer are in their Winter coats, presenting 

 quite a different appearance from what they did six weeks previous ! 



The period of gestation with Fallow Deer is about eight months, 

 and one is born at a birth. Although some naturalists tell us that 

 two and three are sometimes born, this may have happened, but 

 my friends, who have had long experience with Deer, have never 

 seen it, although some of them have had charge of Deer for twenty- 

 five years and have killed from twenty to seventy does each year. 

 The does are usually killed about two months after the rutting is 

 over, therefore there is always an opportunity of knowing if a doe 

 was likely to become the mother of more than one fawn. The father 

 and grandfather of a noted Deer-keeper whom I know had charge 

 of a big herd for nearly one hundred years, and never knew more 

 than one at a birth. I have spoken to many old park-keepers on 

 this interesting subject, but never could find one who could tell me 

 he had actually seen it, although one or two keepers of considerable 

 experience have told me they believed it had happened. This may 

 have been because they saw two fawns sucking one doe, an unusual 

 occurrence, but one which I have seen, and each time I was able 

 to find out that they were the fawns of two does. 



Fawns are born about the first and second weeks of June. I 



