RED DEER. 



are in the coombes, and there are few or no 

 copses on the hills, as in the South Downs. 

 Nothing whatever breaks up the surface 

 and measures the view. Heather covers the 

 largest part of the ground, which is never 

 ploughed or sown, and where there are no 

 flower-grown meads. One vast breadth of 

 open, wild, and treeless country reaches in 

 every direction, and it is at once obvious 

 why the deer have remained at large since 

 the most ancient times, for the land is in 

 the same condition as it was centuries ago. 

 The plough has not touched it, and civilisa- 

 tion has not come near. 



This day may be in the reign of Charles 

 the First or Queen Elizabeth, or even in the 

 Plantagenet times, for aught the appearance 

 of the land says to the contrary. The cross- 

 bow, the cloth-yard arrow, or the clumsy 

 matchlock may still be in use armour may 

 be worn and manuscripts be as yet un- 



