ANTLER AND FERN. 99 



sion by descent. Utterly scorning control, 

 the walls and hedges are nothing to him 

 he roams where he chooses, as fancy leads, 

 and gathers the food that pleases him. 



Pillaging the crops and claiming his dues 

 from the orchards and gardens, he exercises 

 his ancient feudal rights, indifferent to the 

 laws of house-people. Disturb him in his 

 wild stronghold of oak wood or heather, and, 

 as he yields to force, still he stops and looks 

 back proudly. He is slain, but never con- 

 quered. He will not cross with the tame 

 park deer ; proud as a Spanish noble, he dis- 

 dains the fallow deer, and breeds only with 

 his own race. But it is chiefly because of 

 his singular adaptation and fitness to the 

 places where he is found that he obtains 

 our sympathy. 



The branching antlers accord so well with 

 the deep shadowy boughs and the broad 

 fronds of the brake ; the golden red of his 



