THE DEER OF THE PEKING PARKS 273 



seen them at one season may well be excused for not 

 recognising them at the other. In the summer coat, as 

 shown in the- plate, they are of a brilliant reddish chest- 

 nut, profusely spotted with white ; in winter, on the other 

 hand, when the coat of the old stags becomes very long 

 and shaggy, they are uniformly umber-brown, although 

 traces of spots may persist in the younger stags and 

 hinds. The old stags are but little inferior in size to red- 

 deer, with which species certain hinds from the Summer 

 Palace were indeed identified by Mr. Swinhoe, who quite 

 failed to recognise that they were really the adult form 

 of his " garden-deer." 



In England the Peking deer seems to thrive as well 

 as red or fallow deer, and in time we may hope to see it 

 established in many of our parks. 



But the Yuangming Yuan was not the only park where 

 deer were kept by the Chinese Emperors. To the south 

 of Peking lies a park known as the Non Hai-tzu (or 

 Nanhai-tze), far exceeding in extent the Yuangming Yuan, 

 the brick wall by which it is enclosed being forty-five 

 miles in circuit. This imperial hunting-park, as it is 

 commonly called by Englishmen, is separated from the 

 city by a plain, which is marshy in places, and gives rise 

 to a river flowing in part of its course through the park 

 itself. The whole tract is thickly forested, but villages and 

 military posts are dotted here and there in the clearings. 



The park was in former days strictly guarded, and no 

 Europeans were allowed entrance, although there are 

 reports that by the aid of disguises a few entered from 

 time to time. According to rumour the park was the 

 home of large herds of deer of various kinds, as well as 

 of flocks of the Mongolian gazelle, or yellow sheep, as it 

 is called by the Chinese. 



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