92 THE FALLOW DEER 



1. Biting off the top buds and succulent shoots of young ash, 

 aspen, beech, hazel, hornbeam, larch, maple, oak, silver fir, syca- 

 more, and willow, also, in lesser degree, birch, elm, Scots pine, and 

 spruce, during the late autumn and winter months. 



2. Gnawing and stripping the bark from oak of fifteen to twenty 

 years of age, and spruce of twenty to forty years, while alder, birch, 

 larch, Austrian and Scots pine seldom suffer after attaining an age 

 of twenty years. The " stripping " usually takes place in the 

 spring and summer months, and more frequently by stags than 

 hinds ; " gnawing " mostly occurs during the winter months. , The 

 wounds heal most quickly in ash, larch, oak, Weymouth pine, and 

 silver fir ; very slowly in maple, sycamore and spruce. 



3. Rubbing the velvet from their antlers during July and 

 August, and again towards the beginning of autumn, using sapling 

 aspen, horse chestnut, larch, lime, maple, Weymouth pine, silver 

 fir, and willow as " fraying " stocks ; the fraying taking place at night, 

 and scattered trees being most exposed to danger. 



4. Treading down the growth of young seedlings and transplanted 

 trees with their sharp-cutting, horny hoofs. 



The FALLOW DEER (Cervus dama or Dama vulgar is), Fig. 60, is 

 about 3 ft. high at the shoulder, and is easily distinguished from 

 the stag by its spotted coat, longer tail, and palmated horns. 

 In summer both the male (buck) and female (doe) have the back, 

 flanks, and thighs of a fulvous brown colour, with numerous white 

 spots ; in winter these parts are wholly brown ; the buttocks are 

 always white with a black streak on either side ; a dark line passes 

 along the back ; the belly, inside of the limbs and under-surface of 

 the throat are white. The young fallow-deer is called a fawn, 

 the second year a pricket, the third year a buck of the first head. 



Fallow-deer exist in this country only in a semi-wild state, having, 

 it is said, been introduced by James I, at that time James VI of 

 Scotland. Large numbers of fallow-deer are kept in parks, where 

 they congregate in large herds, a large buck always taking the lead, 

 and suffering none but a few favourite does to approach his regal pre- 

 sence, all the other bucks running away directly he makes his appear- 

 ance. Though generally tame and suffering people to come very 

 close to them, fallow-deer, like red-deer, will not allow any one to 

 approach their domains at certain times (rutting and fawning). 

 Their flesh is excellent, and far superior to that of the red-deer. The 

 skin furnishes excellent leather, and the horns, besides producing 

 ammonia or hartshorn, are made into knife-handles and other 

 articles. 



Fallow-deer are similar in proclivities for inflicting injury as red- 

 deer, but differ in being : 



i. More restless and dainty in grazing, hence they commit more 

 damage by nibbling young growth, and trampling under foot, 

 especially recently-introduced trees. 



