DEER I I I 



particular deer was a specially selected holiday cheap-jack, 

 as it was Easter week, when crowds of holiday-makers used 

 to come out. There are always one or two of the hack-garden 

 sort at Swinley. But why are deer so fond of premises and 

 people ? ' I have never made out whether the deer is a bold 

 animal or a timid one. I am told that even the wild deer 

 on Exmoor will run into farm-buildings like the carted 

 deer. Not so very long ago one was killed in a dining- 

 room and another in a conservatory. It is true that the 

 latter was a Quantock Hill deer, which, as they live on a 

 very small tract of country, are really more like park deer. 

 I understand, too, that the Exmoor stags will trot down 

 a road towards the field just as the carted deer do, the only 

 difference being that the field, instead of standing still and 

 letting the deer come through them, as we do in Bucks and 

 Berks, gallop as hard as they can away from the deer. 



I have already quoted from an old sporting magazine of the 

 last century the statement that the deer of that day lived at 

 Swinley in great luxury. This standard of comfort is still 

 scrupulously maintained. The sweetest second cut of clover- 

 hay (the first cut is too tough for deer's teeth), the glossiest 

 old beans, the juiciest carrots are very specially chosen for 

 them. I think the Swinley deer lead quite happy and con- 

 tented lives. A Black Mount deer would pine for the shrill 

 breezes of the tops, the sun-clad face, the cool stone and 

 shadowland of the long corries. But these are the park-bred 

 deer of Mrs. Hemans's stately homes of England. I won't 

 say anything about heredity and evolution, but they would 

 find the conditions of a Scotch forest very uncomfortable and 

 inconvenient. 



Any hurt or mischance to a deer is a matter of poignant 

 regret to the whole Buckhounds establishment, and to the 



' Pliny observes that a deer pressed by hounds often takes refuge in the 

 haunts of men ; so does Du Fouilloux. 



