300 FIELD AND HEDGEROW, 



where trees are few. Under the trees in the forest 

 proper there is Httle food for them. Deer, indeed, seem 

 fonder of half-open places than of the wood itself 

 Thickets, with fern at the foot and spaces of sward be- 

 tween, are their favourite haunts. Heavily timbered land 

 and impenetrable underwood are not so much resorted 

 to. The deer here like to get away from the retreats 

 which shelter them, to wander in the half-open grounds 

 on that part of the park free to them, or, if possible, if 

 they see a chance, out into the fields. Once now and then 

 a buck escapes, and is found eight or ten miles away. If 

 the pale were removed how quickly the deer would leave 

 the close forest which in imagination is so associated 

 with them ! It is not their ideal. They would rather 

 wander over the hills and along the river valleys. The 

 forest is, indeed, and always would be their cover, and 

 its shadows their defence ; but for enjoyment they would 

 of choice seek the sweet herbage, which does not flourish 

 where the roots of trees and underwood absorb all the 

 richness of the soil. The farther the trees are apart the 

 better the forest pleases them. Those great instinctive 

 migrations of wild animals which take place annually in 

 America are not possible in England. The deer here 

 cannot escape — solitary individuals getting free of course, 

 now and then ; they cannot move in a body, and it is 

 not easy to know whether any such desire remains 

 among them. So far as I am aware, there is no 

 mention of such migrations in the most ancient times ; 

 but the omission proves nothing, for before the Normans, 

 before the game laws and parks together came into 

 existence, no one who could write thought enough of 

 the deer to notice their motions. The monks were 

 engaged in chronicling the inroads of the pagans, or 

 writing chronologies of the Roman Empire. On ana- 



