206 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



October is the rutting season of the fallow deer as 

 well as the red deer ; and the bucks kept in parks some- 

 times become dangerous at this season, though much less 

 often than the red deer. Their cry is a kind of grunt or bark, 

 much less sonorous than the voice of the red deer at the 

 same season. The horns are dropped in May, and the 

 growth of the new pair is complete in August, as in the case 

 of the red deer. From the middle of May to the middle of 

 June is the time when the doe calves. The young fawn is 

 hidden by her in some lair among the undergrowth and 

 bracken, and her anxiety often shows that the little creature 

 is hidden not far away. She runs irresolutely to and fro 

 near an intruder ; and if she thinks that he is going to inter- 

 fere with the fawn she will attract its attention by a half- 

 whining, half-bleating cry. Then the fawn springs up from 

 the concealing fern, and leaps lightly away at its mother's 

 heels through the woodland. If the doe and fawn are run- 

 ning together when an intruder is first seen, the doe will 

 sometimes hide the fawn in safe cover and run straight away 

 from the spot. When she hides it in this way she seems to 

 have confidence in its safety ; but she does not appear to 

 think that a fawn previously left hidden in the long herbage 

 is safe against a man arriving subsequently. When the 

 fawn grows stronger, in July, it follows its mother more 

 regularly, and the pair speed off together at any alarm. As 

 with the red deer, the fallow bucks only consort with the 

 does in the mating season, and at other times wander to- 

 gether in small companies. In the semi-confinement of park 

 life these parties are apt to be larger than in open forest ; 

 but bucks and does still feed some distance apart. 



Fallow deer gain their name from their colour, like the 

 red deer. Fallow is an old English word originally mean- 

 ing pale yellow-brown, or light tawny red very much what 



