124 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



and broader, the eyes rounder, the ears shorter and the limbs 

 longer. 



Though it does not dig burrows of its own, it has been known 

 frequently when coursed to take refuge in a Rabbit-burrow. 

 Though, like the other Hares, solitary, the Irish Hare shows a 

 tendency to gregariousness at times. They have been seen in 

 the North of Ireland moving in droves of two or three hundred, 

 like Deer. 



It has several litters during the year, averaging three leverets 

 a litter. They seldom remain long together, either moving 

 apart of their own accord or being separated by the old doe 

 They are able to run when only an hour or two old. 



Red Deer (Cervus daphus, Linn.). 



The largest and noblest surviving member of the ancient 

 British fauna, the Red Deer to-day has a very limited range 

 the mountain glens of Scotland and Westmorland, in the north, 

 and the wide Devon and Somerset moors and the New Forest 

 in Hampshire. Even in the New Forest, where only a few 

 score remain, it is extinct officially, for an Act of Parliament 

 passed in the year 1851 decreed the extermination of the Deer, 

 the reason being that they destroyed a vast quantity of what 

 was then become of far greater national value than venison 

 the growing timber and demoralised the inhabitants by 

 creating a race of deer-stealers. 



A full-grown Stag, as the male Red Deer is called, stands 

 about four feet in height at the shoulders ; the Hind, or female, 

 somewhat less. The summer coat is reddish-brown, some- 

 times golden-red, which changes to a brownish-grey in winter 

 by the new growth of grey hairs. On the under parts the 

 colour is white, and a patch of white around the short tail 

 furnishes a " recognition mark," common to most of the Deer 

 family, which serves to guide the herd when they are in flight 



