RED DEER. 17 1 



winter, and strip the bark in spring and summer, and use 

 saplings or poles as " fraying-stocks," when rubbing the velvet 

 from their antlers in July and August, or when rutting in 

 September and October. The nibbling of buds and shoots kills 

 young plants at once, and when often repeated cripples and 

 stunts older plants. Oak, Ash, Maple, Sycamore, and Beech 

 are the trees deer prefer to gnaw, while young softwoods are 

 naturally preferred as fraying-stocks. The gnawing takes place 

 horizontally, the deer turning their heads sideways and nibbling 

 the whole of one side of the bark on poles up to a good size, so 

 long as the rind is soft and sappy. In winter they both gnaw 

 and peel the bark at about the height of their head, or higher 

 if much snow is on the ground, and the gnawed stems show 

 horizontal teeth-marks with narrow lines of bark and cambium 

 between. But far more injurious is bark-stripping (of Spruce 

 chiefly) in spring and summer while the sap is in flow. The 

 bark is usually bitten through low down, and the deer moves 

 back, holding on firmly with its teeth, until a strip from 2 or 

 3 to 6 ft. long tears off. Sometimes the lower end bitten 

 through is 4 to 6 in. broad, but the strip gradually becomes 

 narrower till it comes away from the stem, often high up, and 

 is eaten. Spruce-woods from 20 to 40 years old are specially 

 liable to injury, then 15- to 20-year-old Beech, Silver Fir, and 

 Oak so long as the bark is smooth. Larch, Ash, Elm, Maple, 

 and Sycamore are less liable to attack, and Scots Pine, Birch, 

 and Alder least of all. Among Conifers, Silver Fir recovers 

 best, while Scots Pine usually remains stunted after being 

 nibbled. Young poles with smooth rind are always attacked 

 first, and peeling stops when thick rough bark is formed. The 

 danger is greatest after the first thinning of a plantation, and 

 clean, well-grown poles are more likely to be damaged than 

 those still rough with twigs. Damaged poles often rot far up 

 into the stem, and break from wind or snow ; or the lower end 

 of the stem is useless for timber up to 15 or 20 ft. high. As 



