324 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



uprights, if he is a healthy animal, living under favourable 

 circumstances, with plenty of good browse and shelter, and on a 

 good soil — as, for example, in the better parts of Hertfordshire, 

 which centuries ago took its name (so I have been told) from the 

 size of "the great hertes" found there. My impression in this 

 respect was confirmed by a gentleman who visited my studio. 

 Being interested in deer, I told him about the young stag 

 throwing up such a large head immediately after shedding his 

 first uprights, and he replied that it was not at all strange, for it 

 was a matter of keep and comfort. He then related to me an 

 instance in which a congregation in church were surprised and 

 somewhat alarmed (I forget whether he said it was at Balmoral 

 or Braemar, but I think the latter) by two stags — both " royals" — 

 walking in and down the middle aisle. It turned out that they 

 were two that had been given as calves to the children of a 

 farmer. Having been well nourished each threw up twelve points 

 immediately after shedding the first uprights; but becoming then 

 rather dangerous, were kept in a place of safety, but by some 

 accident had been let out. I only tell this as it was told to 

 me, and have been trying in vain to recollect the name of my 

 informant. 



As to my own experience, there are a few things I have 

 noticed about deer which may be worth mentioning. It was an 

 invariable rule that when the hinds had shed their winter coat 

 and assumed their clean bright summer dress, you might in a 

 week, or ten days at the outside, expect the fall of the calf, and 

 it was the same with my Fallow-deer. But in noticing recently 

 the Wapiti in the Zoological Gardens, I was surprised to see 

 that (although each had a fine calf about a month old) the hinds 

 were still shedding their old coats, and that only on their legs, 

 face, and ears had the clean summer coat ; they had got rid of 

 the long winter coat, but still their bodies were covered with the 

 shorter winter hair still falling ofi'. 



Another point I have remarked is the difi'erence in the colour 

 of deer, and especially in the eye. Some are much lighter 

 coloured than others, and have an eye with a straw-coloured 

 iris ; others have a dark brown eye and the red of the bodies and 

 the browns and grey about the face, neck, and legs much darker 

 in tone. So far as my experience goes, I am of opinion that the 

 dark deer belong to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and 



