ANTELOPES AND DEER 127 



hoof has been broken. It usually comes on after the rutting season 

 and gets better the following Spring. 



Red Deer are very similar to Fallow Deer, both in structure, 

 habits and food, and are probably as numerous now in England 

 and Scotland as at any period. The late W. Shirley tells us that 

 in 1867 Red Deer were then kept in thirty-one Deer parks in 

 England ; now they may be found in at least eighty-six. The Scotch 

 forests, too, are now more heavily stocked than formerly, owing 

 to the demand for stalking. 



There are still a few Red Deer in England that may be said 

 to be wild or that are not enclosed by fences. In the New Forest, 

 as well as in Devon, Somerset and Westmoreland a few are found. 



The period of gestation is about a fortnight longer than that 

 of the Fallow Deer. The young are born about the middle of 

 May or early in June. The hind isolates herself from the herd and 

 has her young, leaving it in much the same way as a doe will do, 

 although she never gets too far away. Should any person or stray 

 dog turn up she is always ready to fight in its defence, and this 

 she is very capable of doing by getting up on her hind-legs and 

 striking with her fore-feet. I have on several occasions seen a hind 

 kill dogs in this way, and a friend of mine was once severely 

 punished by a hind's fore-feet when attempting to earmark a fawn. 

 The young are born spotted and remain so until the coat changes 

 in the Autumn. 



Red Deer when in anger have a way of giving warning by 

 grinding their teeth, which can be plainly heard for some distance. 



The shifting of coat, shedding of horns, rutting and breeding 

 seasons are each similar to that of the Fallow Deer, only all are a 

 little earlier. 



The first growth of horn starts in the Spring, when the young 

 one is a year old or a little more. One single spike from twelve 

 to eighteen inches is grown the first year, and this increases in 

 size and points each year until the stag is eight years old. 



The life of a Red Deer is longer than that of a Fallow Deer. 

 A stag is at his best from eight to twelve years of age, for after 

 twelve years he deteriorates in horn and body. Hinds live much 

 longer, and I have known several well over twenty years of age, and 

 have heard of some over thirty. 



The weight of Red Deer, as in Fallow Deer, varies according 

 to richness of pasture. A good average for English Deer parks is 



