DEER. 



345 



regions of Central Europe, but it has now been exterminated in many districts. 

 In Scandinavia, it is found only in a few forests in Sweden, and in some of the 

 Norwegian islands. It also remains in the larger forests of France and Germany, 

 while it is more abundant in Hungary, Servia, Transylvania, Poland, and the 

 Danubian States. In parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain, as well as the islands of 

 Corsica and Sardinia, it is less plentifully represented. In the British Islands it 

 is only in the Scottish Highlands to the north of the Clyde and the Forth that 

 wild red deer are met with abundantly, and then only by the aid of protection. 

 They are, however, also found on the moors of Devon and Somerset, in certain 

 districts of Ireland, such as Killarney and Connemara, as well as in the Hebrides. 

 As late as the reign of Queen Anne, wild deer were, however, common in Wolmer 

 Forest, Hampshire, while a few lingered on in Epping Forest till the early part of 

 the present century. 



In European Russia the red deer is reported to be restricted to the Caucasus. 

 Eastwards a large deer ranges through Siberia to Amurland and Northern China, 

 which is probably only a variety of this species, although on account of the larger 

 size of the light-coloured patch on the buttocks, it has been regarded as a distinct 

 form under the name of C xanthopygus. The red deer is again met with in Asia 

 Minor, where it attains large dimensions, but it does not appear to enter Persia, or 

 at least only infringes on the western borders of that country. The so-called 

 Barbary deer of Morocco and Algiers, now regarded merely as a variety of the 

 present species, is distinguished by the frequent absence of the bez-tine of the antlers. 



Fossil remains of the red deer are found abundantly in the caverns and super- 

 ficial deposits of the greater part of Europe ; these fossil antlers being far larger 

 than those of any modern representatives of the species, some of them measuring 

 upwards of 40 inches in length. 



Like most of the tribe, the red deer is gregarious ; but, except 

 Habits. . . „ 



during the pairing -season, the full-grown stags remain apart from 



the other members of the herd, and generally frequent higher ground. On the 

 Continent this species is almost exclusively a forest-dweller, remaining concealed 

 during the day in the thickest cover, and only venturing out to feed in the open 

 glades or adjacent cultivated lands with the falling shades of evening. On the 

 other hand, the Scottish red deer inhabits the open hills, and has for its only con- 

 cealment the intervening glens and valleys. 



The pairing-season commences in the later part of September or beginning of 

 October, and lasts for about three weeks ; during which period the venison is rank 

 and unlit for table. At this season, writes Mr. Scrope, "the harts swell in their 

 necks, have a ruff of long wiry hair about them, and are drawn up in their bodies 

 like greyhounds. They now roll restlessly in the peat-pools till they become almost 

 black with mire, and feed chiefly on a light-coloured moss that grows on the round 

 tops of the hills, so that they do not differ bo entirely from the reindeer in their 

 food as some naturalists have imagined. . . . This is a very wild and picturesque 

 season. The harts are heard roaring all over the forest, and are engaged in savage 

 conflicts with each other, which sometimes terminate fatally. When a master hart 

 has collected a number of hinds, another will endeavour to take them Erom him. 

 They will fight till one of them, feeling himself worsted, will run in circles round 



