DEER AND WILD CATTLE 49 



stag, which has a harem of as many hinds as he can get, is very savage. The 

 photograph (Plate VI.) was obtained only with difficulty, for this reason : that 

 the photographer could not approach the wire fencing with his camera without 

 the stag charging (fortunately, the other side), and getting out of focus. It 

 was necessary to use strategy, and get an assistant to distract the stag's atten- 

 tion until the proper moment. 



Fawns are born in May and June, and are guarded with the most devoted 

 care. They may live to thirty years (in the male) and twenty (in the female), 

 but have passed their meridian at fourteen. 



3. The Fallow Deer (Cervus dama).li is a question whether this species 

 is not a native of this country ; there may have been an indigenous species, 

 though it has been reintroduced since (probably) Roman times, and it may be 

 seen in many parks to-day. It is not as large as the Red Deer the males 

 standing about 3 feet high at the withers. In summer it is a rich yellow- 

 brown in colour, dappled or spotted with white. In winter it becomes a 

 uniform dark brown above, shading off into grey. The antlers are " pal- 

 mated" that is, hand-shaped towards their ends. They are cast in May, 

 and the new horns are full grown by the middle of August a shorter rate of 

 growth than in the case of the Red Deer. 



There were once Wild Sheep in this country, the remains of which have 

 been found in East Anglia ; but to-day the only Wild Sheep to be found 

 alive are confined to Soa and St. Kilda, the islands forty miles north-west of 

 the Outer Hebrides and these were introduced there by the Vikings. 



The Wild Cattle or, rather, the preserved remnants of the ancient Wild 

 Cattle are to be found only on a few private estates. There is a famous 

 " herd " in the forest of Cadzow, in Lanarkshire, in the possession of the 

 Duke of Hamilton ; and others at Chillingham (Northumberland), Lyme 

 Park (Cheshire), Chartley, and Vaynol. 



They are generally white, shaggy creatures, with black ears and muzzles, 

 and other black flecks about them (or, as at Chillingham, red ears). They 

 show the habits of their ancestors in feeding at any rate, in summer chiefly 

 at night. The cows hide their calves in the thick brushwood for the first week 

 or two, and may then be dangerous to passers-by in their desire to protect 

 their young. 



[I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness t^ Sir Harry Johnston's British Mammals and 

 other works throughout this chapter.] 



(2,178) 



