124 RED DEER. 



the pond and goes into the wood is rubbed 

 off against the bushes. 



His "bed" the space he selects to lie in 

 for the day is usually on the most level 

 piece of ground he can find in the copse. 

 He does not mind if it is a little damp, so 

 long as it is level. He merely lies down like 

 a bullock, and makes no nest as a fox will, 

 turning round and round till the grasses are 

 fitted to his body. But as the stag will lie in 

 the same place day after day, there is a de- 

 pression in the fern or grasses corresponding 

 to his size. When he has settled himself 

 down he is said to be " in harbour," and it is 

 curious that if once a stag has chosen a part of 

 the copse, the next that comes will generally 

 go and lie very near the same spot, though 

 the first stag may have left it weeks. 



Hot summer weather makes a stag pant, 

 and it is often possible to hear him blowing 

 and knocking the flies off in the heat of 



