RED DEER 163 



Deer often get it, more especially the older bucks. 

 Does, curious to relate, rarely get it! The bucks 

 suffer most, owing to being more liable to get the 

 points of their hoofs broken through fighting and 

 other causes, leaving the foot exposed to take the 

 disease. I am of the opinion that the disease only 

 attacks after the hoof has been broken. It usually 

 comes on after the rutting season and gets better 

 the following Spring. 



Red Deer are very similar to Fallow Deer, both 

 in structure, habits, and food, and probably as 

 numerous now in England and Scotland as at any 

 period. The late W. Shirley tells us that in 1867 

 Red Deer were then kept in thirty-one deer parks 

 in England; now they may be found in at least 

 eighty-six. 



The Scotch forests, too, are now more heavily 

 stocked than formerly, owing to the demand for 

 stalking. 



There are still a few Red Deer in England that 

 may be said to be wild or that are not enclosed by 

 fences. In the New Forest, as well as in Devon, 

 Somerset, and Westmoreland a few are found. 



The period of gestation is about a fortnight 

 longer than that of the Fallow Deer. The calves 

 are born about the middle of May and early in 

 June. The hind isolates herself from the herd and 

 has her calf, leaving it much in the same way a 

 doe will do, although she never gets too far away. 



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