I 2 DEER : THEIR HABITS 



loses a doe does not chase her after she has gained the 

 harem of his neighbour, as a battle would be the con- 

 sequence, during which each would lose a large por- 

 tion of the females; as the oldest bucks become 

 exhausted (which they soon do from the fact of their 

 scarcely taking any food at this time), the next 

 in age present themselves, and sometimes with 

 scarcely any opposition but frequently with a furious 

 fight they obtain- the much coveted position and 

 the elder is driven off. In some instances a buck 

 will become very much enraged at the desertion of a 

 doe, and has been known to stab her badly. Sir Joseph 

 Banks has left on record a peculiar case, which he thus 

 describes: " In the beginning of the rutting season I 

 observed from the window of a house a doe apparently 

 much exhausted pursued by a buck, who, as often as 

 he overtook her, stabbed her with his horns. The 

 park-keeper was sent for, who said that he had observed 

 the circumstance of the buck having pursued the doe 

 three times round the park, and that part of her entrails 

 were hanging out of her body. Orders were imme- 

 diately given that the buck should be driven off, and 

 the miserable wounded animal released from its pain. 

 Three or four servants set out to execute this order, 

 but as soon as they came close up and attempted to 

 drive away the buck he attacked one of them, who 

 saved himself from the stroke of his horns by climbing 

 up a thorn tree which was near him. The other persons 

 who were near and behind the buck struck him on the 

 haunches, and he soon fled. The doe was immediately 

 killed, and she was pierced by hundreds of thrusts 

 from the antlers of the buck." He adds, " This is the 

 only instance I ever met with of an untamed fallow 

 buck attacking a man." By the loth of November all 

 the old bucks will have become very much reduced in 

 condition, and then is the best time for taking up all those 

 intended for stall-feeding. As I have before remarked, 

 a good deerhound or buck dog is required for this, and, 

 in order to accomplish it well, there should be at least 



