250 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Leicester, I have, as yet, been unable to claim for them a higher 
antiquity than that of historic times. 
Famity CrERyip&. 
Cervus elaphus, Linn. Red Deer. — Semi-domesticated in a 
few parks in the county ; nowhere more numerous than at Brad- 
gate Park, the seat of the Earl of Stamford, where it breeds. 
Nothing apparently is known of its introduction, and it is 
extremely probable that the deer now to be seen there may be 
the descendants of ancient herds which formerly ranged at large 
in the Forest of Charnwood, of which Bradgate once formed 
part. Some interesting figures of these deer are given in a book 
written about 1840, by a Mr. John Martin, of Steward’s Hay, 
entitled ‘Sketches of Deer, in Bradgate Park, by an amateur.’ 
A fine specimen of a“ Royal Stag” was shot at Bradgate in 
1881, expressly for the Museum, for which it was subsequently 
mounted. Horns and bones, those of the limbs especially, of 
an ancient race of C. elaphus, much larger than corresponding 
bones and horns of the existing type, are occasionally found. 
These, if not pre-historic, are certainly of great antiquity, 
probably contemporary with those of the Wolf and Wild Boar. 
The Leicester Museum possesses a portion of a fine right 
antler dug up at the North Bridge (marked No. 519), the 
measurements of which are—Circumference above “ burr,” 9 in.; 
inside curve of ‘‘ brow” antler, 11} in.; length of “ bay,” broken at 
extremity, 10 in.; “tray” absent; circumference below tray, 
6in.; length from burr to end of broken “beam,” 22 in. Another 
perfect left antler of 8 points from the Abbey Meadow (No. 
287), measures—Circumference above burr, 73 in.; inside curve 
of brow antler, 103 in.; ditto bay, 9 in.; ditto tray, 7 in.; crown 
(of five) from point to point, 14 in.; length from burr to end 
of beam, 2 ft. 3 in.; ditto measured along curve, 2 ft. 9 in.; 
circumference below crown, 7 in. 
Dama vulgaris, Gray. Fallow Deer.—Resident and breeding 
in semi-confinement in the Deer parks of Bradgate, Beaumanor, 
Gopsall, &c. Probably introduced into the county at the time of 
the Roman occupation of Leicester. The dark race, common at 
Bradgate and Gopsall Parks, is stated by Bell (‘ British 
Quadrupeds’) to have been introduced from Norway by James I.; 
but Mr. Harting has shown (‘ Essays on Sport and Natural 
