MAMMALIA— DEER. 



341 



THE FALLOW DEER.i 



'^i^^^^izj^i: .siui' 



No two animals can be more nearly allied than the stag and the fallow 

 deer ; and yet ijo two animals keep more distinct, or avoid each other with, 

 more fixed animosity. They are never seen to herd in the same place; it is 

 even rare, unless they have been transported thither, to find fallow deer in 

 a country where stags are numerous. They seem to be of a nature less ro- 

 bust and less savage than the stag. They are found but rarely wild in the 

 forests, and are bred up in parks, where they are, as it were, half domestic. 



England is the country of Europe where they most abound ; and there, 

 their flesh, which dogs are observed to prefer to that of all other animals, is 

 held in no small estimation. It seems to be an animal formed for a tempe- 

 rate climate ; for it is never found in Russia, and very rarely in the forests 

 of Sweden, or in any other northern country ; and as the fallow deer is an 

 animal less savage, more delicate, and, indeed, it may be added, more 

 domestic than the stag, it is likewise subject to a greater number of 

 varieties. 



The horns of the buck, like those of the stag, are shed every year, and 

 take nearly the same time for repairing. 



It frequently happens, that a herd of fallow deer is seen to divide into 

 parties, and to engage each other with great ardor. Each seems desirous 

 of gaining some favorite spot of the park for pasture, and of driving the 

 vanquished party into the coarser and more disagreeable parts. Each 



' Cerpus dama, Lin. 



