I^O ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



"that Queen Anne, as she was journeying on the Portsmouth 

 road, did not think the forest of Wolmer beneath her royal 

 regard. For she came out of the great road at Lippock, which 

 is just by, and, reposing herself on a bank smoothed for that 

 purpose, lying about half a mile to the east of Wolmer Pond 

 and still called Queen's Bank, saw with great complacency and 

 satisfaction the whole herd of Red Deer brought by the keepers 

 along the vale before her, consisting then of about five hundred 

 head. A sight this worthy the attention of the greatest 

 sovereign ! " Even more striking is the confession of a 

 notorious deer-stealer in the New Forest, who assured the 

 Rev. William Gilpin, author of " Forest Scenery/' that in 

 five years he had killed on an average "not fewer than a 

 hundred bucks a year." 



It should be stated that the British examples of the Red Deer 

 are considered to constitute a geographical race known as 

 scoticus. The European range of the species extends from the 

 Mediterranean to central Sweden and central Norway. 



Fallow Deer (Cervus dama, Linn.). 



The Fallow Deer is recognisable at a glance as distinct from 

 the Red Deer by the entirely different character of the antlers. 

 Those of the Fallow Deer are flattened and expanded in all the 

 branches of the upper part, though the main stem or " beam " 

 is rounded as in the Red Deer. With the exception of the 

 equivalents of the brow-antler and the bez-tine the antler forms 

 a broad curved plate whose margins run out in a number of flat 

 points. It is known as a palmate antler, comparable to the 

 palm of the hand with its finger prolongations. These horns 

 are shed annually, like those of the Red Deer, but slightly 

 later. There are no canine teeth in either sex. 



The Fallow Deer is smaller than the Red Deer, the Buck 

 standing only a little more than three feet at the shoulders, and 



