2O DEER : THEIR HABITS 



to whether fat can be produced on the outside of the 

 meat without a corresponding increase of lean ; this I 

 know, that very old bucks, especially forest bucks, are 

 often very fat without appearing to be full of flesh, and 

 yet this has been asserted to be at variance with science. 

 The opinion of Mr. Grove, who has had great expe- 

 rience in venison, is that the fat is not always in due 

 proportion with the lean, the former being frequently 

 superabundant; of this I am quite certain, that deer, 

 like other animals, put on fat in various ways I mean 

 that they are fatter in some parts than other deer, which 

 in the aggregate are equally fat and heavv. I may 

 mention here, too, the fact which perhaps is not gene- 

 rally known, that deer have no gall bladder on the liver 

 which sheep and other animals have. The opinion of 

 a renowned professor was asked upon this point, but 

 he confessed himself unable to throw any light upon 

 the subject. It is certainly an interesting thing to 

 notice in connection with deer. The humble reasoning 

 of the writer previous to his asking the question was 

 that deer living naturally a good deal upon browse, and 

 travelling a distance for their food, or rather getting it 

 in small quantities, did not require the extraordinary 

 provision of a gall bladder. Venison may now be had 

 at all seasons of the year, it having become a general 

 practice to make what are termed "haviars," that is, 

 castrated deer. Mr. Shirley tells us something about 

 a drunken keeper having in one of his fits made an 

 operation, which, having proved successful, has been 

 handed down to us by sheer accident. The writer be- 

 lieves this is a mistake, as his grandfather, who was at 

 Petworth about the year 1780, when the celebrated 

 John Hunter was a constant visitor to the house of the 

 Earl of Egremont, where many experiments were made, 

 and by whom has been handed down to him the best 

 method of making "full heads" or "haviars," more 

 particularly in parks having paddocks for this descrip- 

 tion of venison. Where there are no paddocks, the old 

 plan of castrating the fawns is the best, as the bucks 



