NOTES ON IRISH RED-DEER. 83 



hold. It had been evidently inhabited for a considerable length 

 of time, for the kitchen-midden, which filled a cave descending 

 at a steep angle, was excavated to a depth of more than thirty- 

 feet, and the remains of Red-deer occurred throughout it. 



I have also found the antlers and bones of this species in 

 several other kitchen-middens and caves in this neighbourhood, 

 associated with charcoal, hand-made pottery, objects of iron 

 and bones of ox, goat, pig, and horse. I have obtained 

 them, moreover, in the kitchen-middens of the " crannog," 

 or lake-dwelling, in the peat deposit on Ardmore beach, which, 

 from advancing denudation, is now covered by the sea at 

 every tide. 



Numbers of bones and entire pairs of antlers, some of which 

 are in my possession, have been found in the muds and sands 

 of the estuary above Dungarvan Bridge, where the boatmen 

 frequently find them only partially embedded in the sand, and 

 partially exposed to the tidal waters, so that small sea-shells 

 attach themselves to the antlers. I could mention other localities 

 in this valley where similar remains have been found in deposits 

 of mud and peat. I have been shown a fine antler, with the 

 "throstle's nest," which was taken up by a net out of the Black- 

 water, near Dromana. 



In many parts of Ireland, moreover, and here among the 

 rest, large patches of blackened soil may be seen turned up by 

 the plough or spade. These were ancient cooking-places, and 

 the charcoal that accumulated there has imparted its colour 

 to the soil. Such spots are termed in Irish the "roasting of 

 the deer." The venison was no doubt baked in pits lined with 

 heated stones, as the cracked and burned slabs of sandstone 

 testify, in the same manner as is in use among the natives of 

 Australia and other countries. 



A tradition preserved among the peasantry is related by a 

 very old man named Michael Quarry, still living at Kilnafrehan 

 (as was stated by the late Mr. W. Williams, of Dungarvan), to the 

 effect that in the time of Cromwell a lady who had large estates in 

 the parish of Kilgobinet used annually to visit and be entertained 

 by all her tenantry, who were obliged to provide a Red-deer for the 

 feast. At Ballyknock she and her eight sons were entertained by 

 Thomas Towhill, who, either for want of means or the inclination 

 to procure venison, had a black sheep slaughtered. 



