BRITISH DEER 



211 



of the roe is in July and August. As the roe only stands 

 about two feet high at the withers to the red deer's four, 

 and the fallow deer's three, its horns are naturally much less 

 imposing. They are short, upright, and three-pointed, and 

 their rough surface is very familiar in the shape of the ' stag's 

 horn ' handles of pocket-knives and carving-knives, most of 

 which are supplied by the roe. 



It is an axiom of natural history that the young of a 



ROE DEER 



species often reproduce the ancestral markings ; and it is 

 an interesting point that the young of all three species of 

 deer are spotted with white. It thus appears that the normal 

 dappled type of fallow deer in summer dress preserves the 

 original livery of the whole group, from which both others 

 have completely departed. Even the fallow deer has given 

 up the traditional pattern in its winter dress, and at all times 

 of the year in the case of the grey variety. All this must 

 help to raise a doubt whether the spotted type of marking 

 is really a highly protective device, gradually elaborated by 

 ages of natural selection, as it is often held to be. The 



