FAWNS IN THE 'FENCE-MONTHS' 127 



and the eye is larger, and even more dark and gentle. 

 The fawns of the fallow-deer are quite as distinct in 

 appearance from those of the red deer as are the 

 full-grown animals of either kind, both in colour 

 and shape. There are three varieties of fallow-deer, 

 and though these are often members of the same 

 herd, the fawns of each seem generally to retain the 

 colour of the mother, the dark mouse-coloured hinds 

 having dark fawns, the white hinds cream-coloured 

 fawns, while the young of the common spotted variety 

 are white, mottled with light-fawn colour, which 

 gradually takes later the dappled hue of the parent- 

 hind. Occasionally a very light fawn may be seen, 

 which is probably a cross between the white and 

 dappled varieties. But none of the fallow-deer fawns 

 have the grace of the red deer calf; they are less 

 deer-like, and in some respects, especially by their 

 long, thick legs, they suggest a week-old lamb ; while 

 the head is more rounded, and the muzzle less pointed 

 than in the red deer. They seem to leave the fern 

 and join their mothers earlier than their larger cousins, 

 and are shyer and less easy of approach, a wildness 

 which seems difficult to account for in the young of a 

 species which has been semi-domesticated for so many 

 centuries. In order to approach them nearly, it is 

 as well to take the precaution of walking up from 

 the leeward side. Even park deer seldom become 

 wholly indifferent to the scent of man ; a score of 

 hinds and fawns may be lying scattered under the 

 oaks on the hill-side during a hot June day, enjoying 



