128 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



twenty stones for stags and fourteen for hinds. In the Highlands 

 of Scotland the Deer do not often get so heavy. 



Much has been said of late years about the deterioration of heads 

 in the Highlands. No doubt the chief cause of this is overstocking 

 on poor soil and killing the best stags without due respect to future 

 stock. Owners of Scotch forests have introduced stags from Eng- 

 lish parks, nearly always selecting Deer from parks where the heads 

 are exceptionally fine in hopes of breeding animals with fine heads ; 

 but this is usually disappointing, for big heads are produced on 

 good land, and to take Deer from a rich feeding park to a poverty- 

 stricken Scotch forest is sure to fail in the desired result unless 

 artificial feeding is resorted to, and even this is not often a success. 

 Change of blood is a step in the right direction, but to get the 

 greatest success Deer must be brought from poor land to better. 

 Good Winter feeding is, no doubt, an aid to the production of fine 

 heads, but the soil has most to do with it. 



Strange to say the span of life with Deer of both species on 

 poor land is longer than on rich soil. 



In some parks there may be seen a white or cream-coloured 

 variety of Red Deer. They are quite as heavy and carry as fine 

 heads as those of normal colour. Whence this variety was derived 

 is uncertain ; some say they are German and others call them Danish. 

 They are not so common as the white variety of Fallow Deer, in 

 fact I never knew a white Red Deer from other than white parents 

 or one of that colour. Such is not the case with Fallow Deer, for 

 it sometimes happens that a white fawn is born of parents of the dark 

 variety. The white variety of Fallow Deer as fawns are a cream 

 colour, but afterwards become white. 



The largest parks in England are Savernake 4,000 acres, 

 Windsor 3,000, Knowsley 2,600, Gredge 2,500 (this latter is the 

 oldest Deer park in England, and the only one mentioned in Dooms- 

 day Book as containing Deer then, as now), Duncombe 2,240 acres, 

 Buckhurst 2,100, and Thoresby 2,000 acres. 



Deer parks were formed after the Norman Conquest, and in- 

 creased until Cromwell's time, when they were probably more 

 numerous than now. During the Civil War many of the park fences 

 were broken down and the Deer driven out or killed. Many Deer 

 parks date no farther back than Charles II.'s time, when owners 

 settled down again to restore the mischief caused by the war. 



Old-world legends associated with animals are at all times 



