AND MANAGEMENT. 1 9 



way for the landowner to show his appreciation of any 

 little, act of kindness or service which had been ren- 

 dered him by the farmers around to give them a 

 " venison feast.*' This is still kept up in some places, 

 and surely it is one of the links that help to bind men 

 of different stations in a loving brotherhood. 



The habits of deer are more to be observed in large 

 parks, I think, than in small ones, lor certainly the less 

 they are confined the more natural will be their habits; 

 this is particularly observed by their lair varying accord- 

 ing to the different quarters from which the wind blows, 

 also the different divisions of the herd at the various 

 seasons of the year. It is worthy of notice that the 

 bucks and does, rather the antler and rascal deer, herd 

 separately in the buck venison season, and the warmer 

 the weather the closer the bucks herd together, when 

 their horns are in velvet, and they are so sensitive at 

 that period that they fight with their fore feet by stand- 

 ing on their hind legs. As soon as they begin to burnish 

 or shed the velvet, which generally commences about 

 the 1 4th of August, they make use of their horns, and 

 about a week after that time, if you are in their vicinity 

 at night, you will hear them sharpening their antlers 

 against some post or fence ; this they take much delight 

 in. There seems to be no rule for the colour of the 

 fallow deer, for in parks where the prevailing colour 

 has been black for many years there will be an occa- 

 sional white one or two crop up, as there will be what 

 are called "bald-faced deer," the bodies a very dark 

 grey or black and the face of the animal white. There 

 is an impression that the black deer are the hardiest, 

 and acquire fat more quickly than others ; but I 

 do not think much importance is to be attached to 

 that. The heaviest park buck I ever killed was a 

 "menill" one; I killed him early in September, and 

 he weighed over 1 7 stones. It has been noticed that 

 a buck which has died particularly fat and good has 

 been observed to be quiet in his habits, and this leads 

 me to the question which has often been discussed as 



