1 26 SURRE Y SCENES 



The oak-grove upon the sides, and the thick fern 

 upon the flat top of the White Lodge hill, are the 

 most likely spots in which to find the hidden fawns. 

 The red deer seem to prefer the patches of tall rushes 

 which grow among the oaks ; and the fallow, the 

 thicker shelter of the fern. There are also tall nettle- 

 beds round the enclosure, in which the deer are fed 

 in winter, and where in summer lumps of rock-salt 

 are laid for them to lick. These uninviting nettle- 

 beds are, strange to say, favourite layettes with the 

 fallow hinds, and in them the writer has more than 

 once found a sleeping fawn. 



It would be difficult to see a prettier picture of 

 young sylvan life than a red deer fawn lying in one 

 of the patches of rushes among the oaks. Unlike 

 the full-grown red deer, the fawns are beautifully 

 spotted with white, and the colour of the coat is a 

 bright tan, matching the dead oak-leaves which are 

 piled among the rushes. If the spectator approaches 

 from the leeward side, he may come within a few 

 feet of the fawn, which lies curled up, with its head 

 resting on its flank. Presently it raises its head, 

 and looks at its visitor with grave, wide-open eyes, 

 and if not disturbed, will go to sleep again. Other- 

 wise it bounds up and is at once joined by the mother, 

 who has been standing " afar off to wit what would 

 be done to him." As the hind and fawn trot away 

 side by side, the greater grace of the young animal 

 is at once apparent. The head is smaller, the neck 

 and back straighter, and the ears shorter in the fawn, 



