244 ^^me of Europe, W. Sc N. Asia & America 



all hiwiis of darker colour than ordinary. On tlic other hand, the hlack. 

 breed keeps very true ; no spotted individuals being, it is said, ever seen in 

 the herd inhabiting Popping Forest in a halt-wild state. 



Much has been written with regard to the mode of life of fallow deer 

 in British parks, which need not be repeated here. Unfortunately, there 

 is practically no information concerning the habits of the truly wild animal 

 of Southern Europe and Western Asia. 



"The hillow deer," writes Canon Tristram in his Niitural History of 

 the B/hh\ " is very rare in Palestine, and does not appear ever to have been 

 common. In Arabia it does not exist. A few are still to be found in 

 the wooded glades between Mount Tabor and Lebanon, a district seldom 

 disturbed by travellers. I only once met with it, not tar from the sea 

 of Galilee ; and Hasselquist noticed it on Mount Tabor." 



THE MESOPOTAMIAN FALLOW DEER 



{Ccrviis mesopotcDnicus) 



(Plate IV. Fui. 6) 



Although the Mesopotamian fallow deer was not made known to 

 science till 1H75, when it was described by the late Sir Victor Brooke in 

 the Zoological Society's Proceedings, unrecognised evidence of its existence 

 had been brought to England at a much earlier period. Among the bas- 

 reliefs obtained by Sir Henry Layard from Nimroud, and now in the 

 British Museum, is one of a human figure carrying on its right arm a 

 spotted and antlered animal which is evidently intended to represent the 

 species. A cut of the bas-relief in question is given in Nincvc/i and 

 Persepo/is, by W. S. W. Vaux,^ where it is quite incorrectly lettered 



' Second edition, second ot'tlie two plates facing p. 218, London, 1S50. 



