9 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE, 



grounds at Oxford. They will even allow a 

 favourite acquaintance to stroke and fondle 

 their pretty heads. No doubt the long 

 domestication of their ancestors has made 

 them naturally prone to strike up a friendship 

 with human companions, just as is the case 

 with kittens and puppies ; and at Woolney 

 they have always lived very near the great 

 house itself, where children and visitors have 

 long been wont to pet and caress them. 

 There are, indeed, few more interesting relics 

 of the past in England than these stray herds 

 of dumb creatures, remnants of the native 

 woodland tribes which once spread over the 

 whole well-timbered country, and which now 

 carry us back in mind past the days of Robin 

 Hood and of William the Red to the old 

 forestine life of the Celtic and Euskarian 

 aborigines. For though some good authorities 

 will have it that the fallow deer date back no 

 earlier in this country than the days of the 

 Romans, who are said to have introduced 

 them for their pleasure grounds, I myself 



