THE COUNTRY LIFE. 245 



there by artificial means. They do not, as 

 painters say, shade in with the colours and 

 shape of the landscape. He is as natural as 

 an oak, or a fern, or a rock itself. He is earth- 

 born, autochthon, and holds possession by 

 descent. Utterly scorning control, the walls 

 and hedges are nothing to him ; he roams 

 where he chooses, as fancy leads, and gathers 

 the food that pleases him. Pillaging the 

 crops, and claiming his dues from the orchards 

 and gardens, he exercises his ancient feudal 

 rights, indifferent to the laws of house-people. 

 Disturb him iii his wild stronghold of oak- 

 wood or heather, and as he yields to force, 

 still he stops and looks back proudly. He is 

 slain, but never conquered. He will not 

 cross with the tame park deer ; proud as a 

 Spanish noble, he disdains the fallow deer, and 

 breeds only with his own race. But it is 

 chiefly because of his singular adaptation and 

 fitness to the places where he is found that he 

 obtains our sympathy. The branching antlers 

 accord so well with the deep, shadowy boughs 

 and the broad fronds of the brake ; the golden 

 red of his coat fits to the foxglove, the purple 



