346 HOOFED ANIMALS 



criminals of the deepest dye ; but men in defiance of laws 

 and edicts ' bent their bows and lived upon the chase/ and 

 such as Robin Hood and William of Cloudesley were 

 accounted as national heroes, whose names have been 

 handed down to posterity in many a stirring ballad. 



The Red Deer belongs to the Elaphine group, which 

 contains the grandest and most typical species of the whole 

 family. It still exists in a wild state in Exmoor Forest ; 

 in Scotland north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and in 

 various of the western islands ; and in Kerry and Conne- 

 mara in Ireland. It abounds in South Germany, Austria, 

 Poland, and the Danubian States. It is not only scarcer in 

 Scandinavia, but is a smaller animal. It is also found in 

 the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and the temperate regions of 

 Siberia, where it attains a greater size than in Europe. 

 The Barbary Deer is but the African variety of the Red 

 species. Thanks to the Prince Consort, the Red Deer was 

 introduced into New Zealand for purposes of sport with 

 excellent results, for it there exceeds in size any of the 

 Deer of the British Islands. 



A well-grown stag stands quite four feet high at the 

 withers, the hind being four or five inches less. Its body- 

 colour is a rich red-brown, the neck more thickly coated 

 and inclining to a greyish tint ; and there is a yellowish- 

 white patch on the buttocks. In winter the covering is 

 longer and greyer. A stag in its short shiny coat, and 

 carrying a pair of well-curved symmetrical antlers, is in 

 summer the lordliest of our native animals. 



A description of the various stages in the growth of the 

 antlers of the Red Deer will apply more or less to all the 

 Cervine family. The fawn or calf is usually born early in 

 June, and the young male animal or ' Knobber,' as it is called, 

 puts forth its first simple antlers in the following spring. 

 They are straight, conical, and unbranched, and the young 

 Deer's name is changed to that of ' Brocket.' About the 

 end of February in the following year the Brocket sheds its 

 antlers. The new antler rapidly makes its appearance, and 

 is found to have received an addition in the shape of a 

 brow tine, while the beam itself remains as last year, except 

 that it is larger and stronger. The two-year-old hart is 



