352 CERVIDyE. 



Forest, and we have ourselves seen some in the New Forest 

 many years ago. But exclusive of those kept in regu- 

 larly enclosed parks, the species must now be regarded as 

 being confined in England to the moorlands of Devon- 

 shire and Somersetshire ; in Ireland to certain districts 

 in Erris, Connemara, and Killarney ; and Scotland to the 

 Highlands north of the Forth and Clyde, and to the 

 adjacent islands. It is not now found in Shetland or 

 Orkney, though it was anciently a native of the latter 

 islands, but it is plentiful in both the Outer and Inner 

 Hebrides, where the breed has been much improved of 

 late years by the judicious introduction of fresh blood. 



It is in the Highlands of Scotland only that the Red 

 Deer is now found in large numbers in Britain, and great 

 tracts of country have there been devoted to its exclusive 

 use, a policy of which the national advantages have been 

 the subject of not a little discussion of late years. The 

 old Highland mode of hunting by surrounding a great 

 extent of country by a huge circle or " Tinchal " has 

 been long abandoned, the orthodox manner of killing a 

 Stag now being by stalking it a task of no little diffi- 

 culty till the sportsman comes within rifle-range. Deer 

 are also sometimes driven through the mountain passes 

 where the guns have been placed in ambush, or are run 

 down with rough deerhounds, but the latter are more 

 often used to secure a Stag which has already been 

 wounded. Several excellent accounts of these sports 

 have been written, of which the best will be found in St. 

 John's " Wild Sports of the Highlands " and in Scrope's 

 " Days of Deer-stalking," and many incidents of the 

 chase have been immortalized in the pictures of Sir Edwin 

 Landseer. In Ireland and in Devonshire wild Red Deer 

 are still pursued with Hound and Horse and horn in 

 orthodox fashion, but those whicli afford sport to Her 



