84 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



valleys and plains, cultivated to the highest degree, innumerable 

 meadows, each with its thick hedges and trees ; so that with 

 the copses and covers thej'^ resemble woodlands. The triangle 

 above described has within it not onl}' moors and hills, but good 

 farming land, a cit)', and many large towns. The paths of the 

 deer wind round about the rich and enclosed districts, but if 

 chased they frequently go straight across them. 



" So wide a space may more aptly be called a country than a 

 district, and it is strictly correct to say that the Red-deer are now 

 local. They are the Red-deer of the West of England." 



The mode of hunting them as pursued in Devon and Somerset 

 has been so well described by Collyns in his ' Chace of the Wild Red 

 Deer,' published in 18G2, that we need not dilate here upon it, or 

 follow Mr. Jefferies over this portion of the subject, with which he 

 is evidently less familiar. His description, however, of the habits 

 of deer (either as observed bj' himself or gathered from the hunts- 

 man) is extremely interesting, and developes some characteristic 

 traits which would have escaped an ordinary observer. 



Stags, he says, carry their necks perpendicular ; hinds hold 

 them aslant. In jumping the walls of the country, made of loose 

 flat stones, the stags leap to the top, which is always broad, and 

 then down the other side ; hinds regularly climb them, getting 

 their fore feet on the top of the wall, and digging their hind hoofs 

 into the earth and loose stone, and making a sort of step. 



The stag drops his antlers in Marcli ; but few of these cast 

 horns are found compared to the number that must be shed, and 

 those that are found are more often single horns than pairs. 

 Certainly the extent of the woods is very great, but they are 

 traversed by gamekeepers and othei's ; the moors are crossed by 

 shepherds ; and all keep a sharp look-out for horns, which are 

 valuable. 



Mr. Jefferies thinks it possible that the stag may drag 

 brambles or branches over the dropped antlers if they chance to 

 grow at hand, but he makes no allusion to the well-known fact 

 that a great man}' of shed antlers are devoured by the deer 

 themselves, which have been often disturbed while in the act of 

 gnawing them. 



In the West of England, he tells us that a good pair of 

 antlei'S will fetch ,£5, and as much as £10 has been given for a 

 pair with a remarkable number of points. These prices show 



