DEER. 



S47 



are in highest perfection at the time when the ener- 

 gies of the animals are required for the performance 

 of those functions, at the close of which the horns drop 

 off, the energy is most occupied in the horn, at the 

 very same time that it is required for the other' pur- 

 pose ; and that, therefore, the horn is a source of divi- 

 sion and weakening of the energ}', and not a concen- 

 tration and strengthening of it. But when they call 

 to mind that it is during the growth, and not when 

 full grown, that the horn exhausts the energy of the 

 animal, that the growth is most rapid in the early 

 Mage, and that the growth ceases when the skin comes 

 >ii' and the bony part of the horn is left bare, it will 

 nt. once be seen that there is no ground whatever for 

 such a supposition, but quite the reverse. There is 

 something very analogous to this in the flowering of 

 plants, which will probably suggest itself to the reader, 

 but the introduction of it here would be out of place. 



With the exception of these climatal adaptations, 

 the deer form a more distinct and perfect genus 

 .than any of the other ruminantia, or, indeed, than 

 almost of any group of any other order whatever; and, ' 

 therefore, though there have been some attempts to 

 separate them into sub-genera, the distinctions upon J 

 which these have been founded are more fanciful than 

 real. The species are tolerably distinct, even when 

 they are fonnd in the same countries ; but even there 

 ach species affects a different pasture ; and, there- 

 fore, though we describe them according to their 

 different appearances, the real distinction is one of 

 sociality. 



Here we are somewhat unexpectedly brought back 

 to the physiological doctrine which we are attempting, 

 for the first time we believe that it has been attempted, 

 to explain or, perhaps, to speak more becomingly, 

 which we are seeking to bring to the notice of those 

 who are capable of explaining it; for the explanation 

 points much farther than even most physiologists are 

 in the habit of looking, or even dreaming (for they 

 dream homewards, and not on the long view) ; and 

 \ve > r ery much suspect that, if clearly worked out with 

 constant adherence to the facts, and the whole volume 

 of nature open to the investigator, it would be found 

 us wide as the entire working creation, both animal 

 and vegetable. 



We may just notice that among birds, the gallina- 

 ceous ones, and others which, though not exclusively 

 vegetable feeders, as indeed no birds are, yet never 

 fight with what they eat, are the ones in which the 

 male undergoes the greatest change of plumage as the 

 pairing season comes on. 



There is yet another point : among those birds 

 which change their plumage toward the pairing time, 

 the species in which the males are polygamous have 

 the greatest and the richest change of feather in them. 

 So also in the deer there is one species which is not 

 polygamous, and in this species there is less develop- 

 ment of horns, and also less excitement in the season 

 of heat than there is in those where the males are 

 polygamous. 



The chief ground of specific distinction in the genus 

 ( 't-rrits is the form and production of the horns ; and 

 this we might be prepared to expect from what has 

 been already stated, or if we are to take the forms of 

 the horns as an observed fact (which of course it is), 

 it is a further argument in favour of what has been 

 stated. 



Deer have been in all ages of the world among the 

 most interesting of its wild inhabitants. There is 



majesty in their appearance, there is fleetness in their 

 march ; their flesh is more esteemed than that of 

 any other animals ; and when they are " in pride of 

 grease" as it is called, they are in higher condition 

 than any other animals ever are in a state of nature, 

 or can be brought to by all the arts of the most, skil- 

 ful cultivator. Beeves and muttons may be fatted ad 

 nauseam; but after a moderate point, as the fat accu- 

 mulates the flavour goes ; and a haunch of venison 

 from the hill is, in point both of juiciness and of flavour, 

 superior to all the beef or mutton that ever was fatted. 

 As a proof of its superior wholesomeness we may add, 

 that, even in the hottest weather, venison is hardly 

 ripe in double the time in which beef or mutton would 

 be putrid. The common-blue bottle fly tells tales in 

 this respect : that insect is attracted by the scent of 

 incipient putridity, as blue bottles may be observed 

 most plentiful about those butchers'-shops where both 

 the shop and the meat are in the worst, condition. 



The fleetness and watchfulness of deer, the bold- 

 ness with which the males turn on their pursuers when 

 pressed to extremities, and their value when caught, 

 have m^de them at all times the most favourite game 

 with the hunter, both for killing 1 with missiles in the 

 woods, and for running down by dogs in the open 

 places. Indeed, it is highly probable that it was the 

 deer which taught mankind the use of the bow in many 

 countries in the earlier periods of their history, though 

 Canning in his exquisite satire, " The Progress of 

 Cruelty," bestows the honour of having suggested this 

 invention upon the pig in his eager desire to eat 

 which, the wild man applied the barken string to the 

 bended branch, laid the pointed reed across, drew 

 with all his might, let slip, and 



Twang sounds the string, the hissing arrow flies, 

 And darkness seals the gentle porker's eyes. 



While great part of England was covered by exten- 

 sive forests of timber, the shooting of deer formed, in 

 the season, the occupation of kings, and feudal lords 

 and their vassals, and, except in trying their weapons 

 upon each other, it was almost their only amusement. 

 It also formed a stock theme with the romancers and 

 poets of the time ; and, though it is partly true and 

 partly fabulous, there are few of the remains of the 

 lore of the middle ages which has had more readers 

 and admirers than the story of Robin Hood and his 

 band in Sherwood Forest. Nor in the more open 

 parts of the country was the wholesale slaughter of 

 the deer by driving in one way or other a less cele- 

 brated employment ; and when " the stout Earl of 

 Northumberland*' wished to bring the feud with the 

 Douglas to an issue, he had recourse to a deer-stealing 

 incursion upon the grounds of the latter : 



To drive the deer with hound and born, 



Earl Percy took his way; 

 The child may rue that is unhorn, 



The hunting of that day 



as is said and sung in the very beautiful and truly 

 national ballad of Chevy Chase. Innumerable other 

 instances might be cited to show the importance which 

 our forefathers attached to these animals ; and it is 

 probable, nay it is certain, that to the fondness both 

 of men of rank and of men of no rank for deer, we are 

 indebted for the brightest ornament not only of Eng- 

 lish literature, but of the literature of all nations. 

 William Spakspeare was a deer stealer, and as such 

 was driven from his native county to seek shelter in 

 the British metropolis, and make his way there the 



