CHAPTER XXIII 



(continued) 



NEXT to the red-deer is the fallow-deer (Cervus dama). Although 

 this species is most common, it is declared by some to be not 

 indigenous to Europe, but upon the authority of Cuvier it was 

 originally introduced from Barbary. I should much doubt that 

 fact, as the deer is not an animal that belongs to the African 

 continent, and is nowhere found except on the north coast border- 

 ing the Mediterranean. It should therefore be more natural that 

 the Cervus dama (platyceros of the ancients) was introduced into 

 Barbary from Southern Europe. The great Sahara desert has 

 intervened as though it were an ocean, and has completely pro- 

 hibited the passage of the fauna from north to south, therefore 

 the deer which are found in Barbary can have no affinity with the 

 fauna of Africa. 



The fallow-deer does not run wild in Great Britain like the red- 

 deer, but is confined in parks. As late as 1835 there were large 

 numbers that were unfenced in the New Forest in Hampshire, and 

 I can well remember seeing them in 1832 when I delighted in 

 that forest, as a boy. I believe a few still remain, but the fallow- 

 deer can no longer be accepted as a wild animal of Great Britain. 



It is a beautiful species, and, as it is park -fed, and better 

 sheltered during winter than the red-deer of Scotland, the horns 

 have not deteriorated. These are very elegant in shape, being 

 palmated, with many points. There is a difference of opinion 

 respecting the quality of the venison as compared with that of the 

 red-deer. I prefer that of the fallow-deer, but it is almost a crime 

 to declare this in Scotland. 



The third variety of British deer is the roe (C. capreolus). 

 This small deer is about the size of an ordinary goat. Although 

 the horns have only two tines, the quality is exceedingly dense, 

 and the exterior is rich in small knobs ; the roughness makes 



