30 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



them has met with an accident, and that her off- 

 spring has been adopted. For some days after 

 calving the hinds leave their young in close retreats, 

 and return to suckle them at intervals. After this, 

 however, the tiny things are able to trot along by the 

 sides of their mothers, and soon are able to go at any 

 speed or to travel any distance. The red -deer 

 browse during the morning, taking up their position 

 " between the wind." A little after noon they lie 

 down. While the herd to which they belong is 

 resting or quietly browsing, the month-old fawns 

 run and frisk in the most fantastic fashion, the older 

 ones seeming to take but little notice of them. They 

 race along among the hillocks, tumbling each other 

 among the deep moss, never tiring of their graceful 

 gambols. This is continued until nightfall, when 

 all play ceases, or until one of the hinds gives her 

 characteristic note of alarm, when they run to the 

 side of their dams, and the herd, closing up, quietly 

 moves off out of danger. The young red-deer follow 

 their mothers until two years old, when they too 

 begin to breed. The most experienced foresters say 

 that the number of stag and hind calves is about 

 equal, and that the reason of the latter seeming to 

 predominate in a herd is owing to the fact that the 

 stags have but little show of " head " for some time, 

 and that at a distance they resemble hinds. 



Beyond a small, bony protuberance the young red- 



