222 AMERICAN GAME. 



even and more stately than our deer, with branched 

 antlers exactly similar to those of our great western Elk, 

 though of inferior size. 



Second, the Fallow Deer, the species usually kept in a 

 semi-domesticated state in the parks of the nobility and 

 gentry, both as an ornament to the scenery, and as an 

 article of luxury for the table. This is a beautiful and 

 graceful creature, far less stately than the Red Deer, or 

 the denizen of our forests, but slightly and symmetrically 

 moulded, and the very ~beau ideal of grace and airy 

 motion. It has flattened or palmated horns, about mid- 

 way in form between those of the Moose and Cariboo, or 

 American Reindeer, though, of course, proportionally 

 smaller. In color, the Fallow Deer differs materially 

 from all the other species, and is itself by no means 

 uniform, some individuals being almost black, and others 

 nearly white ; the majority are, however, beautifully 

 dappled, and some pied, with tints of brown fawn color 

 and yellowish white. 



The Fallow Deer is not believed to be indigenous to 

 Great Britain, nor indeed to Europe, being, I imagine, 

 of oriental origin ; nor is it found any where in a state 

 of nature or at large ; being confined exclusively in 

 parks or chases of more or less extensive range, often 

 including large tracts of forest land ; and it has been 

 observed that the wilder the character of the park, and 

 the more broken and forest-like the nature of the soil, 

 especially when it produces heather or fern in abun- 



