RED DEER. I2Q 



as the old deer saw me she gave her young one a slight tap 

 with her hoof. The little creature immediately laid itself down ; 

 and when I came up I found it lying with its head flat on the 

 ground, its ears closely laid back, and with all the attempts at 

 concealment that one sees in animals which have passed an 

 apprenticeship to danger of some years, whereas it had evidently 

 not known the world for more than an hour, being unable to 

 run or escape. I lifted up the little creature, being half inclined 

 to carry it home in order to rear it. The mother stood at the 

 distance of two hundred yards, stamping with her foot, exactly 

 as a sheep would have done in a similar situation. I, however, 

 remembering the distance I had to carry it, and fearing that it 

 might get hurt on the way, laid it down again, and went on my 

 way, to the great delight of its mother, who almost immediately 

 trotted up, and examined her progeny all over, appearing, like 

 most other wild animals, to be confident that her young and 

 helpless offspring would be a safeguard to herself against the 

 attacks of her otherwise worst enemy." 



It is in the localities described by the author just quoted that 

 we have still the best chance of studying the Red Deer under 

 natural conditions, though there have naturally been some 

 changes since his classic " Wild Sports of the Highlands " was 

 first published in 1845. But the southerner, as we have hinted, 

 has still a prospect of meeting with the noble beast on Exmoor 

 and in Hampshire, to say nothing of the tamer herds in parks. 

 To get a good view of these, they should be approached with 

 a pretence of unconcern : they can often be well observed from 

 a road at a few yards' distance without arousing their suspicions, 

 whereas a few steps towards them on the greensward will cause 

 them to bolt. 



Respecting the large numbers of Deer that formerly existed 

 in the south, there is an illuminating reminiscence mentioned 

 by Gilbert White. He says that an old keeper assured him on 

 information from his father, head-keeper of Wolmer Forest, 



A.L. K 



