ON THE GROWTH OF ANTLERS IN THE RED-DEER. 325 



the light-eyed deer of a lighter and moi'e mealy colour belong to 

 the parks and lowlands, being also larger and partaking more of 

 the character of the continental deer. I have noticed that Sir 

 Edwin Landseer painted the dark eye, which he may have selected 

 because it came in better from an artistic point of view, or because 

 he always painted Highland deer. 



My stag was aged when I first had him, and was peculiar in 

 having odd eyes, one straw-colour, the other light blue. He was 

 a good stag, however, rather short and thick- set, and what I call 

 " mealy-faced." The two hinds were darker in colour, especially 

 the younger one, with fine rich brown eyes ; the calves took after 

 them, and the young stag had the rich brown eye, like his mother, 

 the largest hind. When quite young, with spotted coats, they 

 were so like the young Wapiti now in the Zoological Gardens 

 that I could not help being struck by the similarity, apart 

 from size. The young Wapiti, as a rule, are darker about the 

 face, ears, and eyes, but not more so than the young of my 

 small dark hind ; and it is curious that the difference between 

 the Wapiti and Red-deer developes as they advance towards 

 maturity. 



I am surprised that deer are not more often kept, for they are 

 very beautiful when viewed behind nice pallisading, and appear 

 perfectly happy. They do better in a limited place such as mine 

 than if they had a small run of grass, which only gets into a bad 

 state, spoils their feet, and affects their general health. I think, 

 moreover, my deer were also more contented at not having too 

 extensive a view, but only a few trees and shrubs in front of their 

 walks. I am certain this would be a good plan in breeding fresh 

 stock for forests. The dry food which I gave them was hay and 

 maize, with an occasional change to oats ; and for moist food 

 I found golden-globe mangolds the best, for I have kept these 

 roots stored in the outhouse all through the winter to the end of 

 June, and still good. This could not be done with swedes, and 

 the mangolds contain more moisture. In summer I gave green 

 tares, and grass from lawns where it could be got clean. 



Besides the Red-deer I also kept a Fallow buck and four 

 does, which did equally well, but were not so pleasant to keep, 

 for they quarrelled so — not so much between the buck and does 

 as between the does themselves, which were constantly chasing 

 and biting each other. 



