36 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



becomes weak and exhausted, and seeks some solitary spot 

 where he may recruit himself in peace: no wonder, indeed, 

 since during this week he is constantly with a large herd 

 of hinds, at times fighting, and always in a state of the 

 highest irritation ; for, at the darkening, another and an- 

 nother hart will come in, and take some of the hinds from 

 him ; he then gives chase furiously, but is obliged to return 

 after a short space for fear of losing the remainder. At 

 length the old harts that have rutted, collect and go off 

 together in large parcels, and the younger ones succeed to 

 the hinds. During the winter they have long wiry coats 

 of a lighter cast of colour, and are wholly without fat, and 

 in every respect unfit for the table. The winter coat begins 

 to come off when they drop their horns, and the new coat 

 appears about the middle of June. 



Neither Mr. John Crerer, who has followed deer in the 

 forest of Atholl for sixty years, nor any other individual 

 there, has ever seen a hart cover a hind. 



The period of gestation in a hind is eight months. She 

 drops her fawn in high heather, where she leaves it con- 

 cealed the whole of the day, and returns to it late in the 

 evening, when she apprehends no disturbance. She makes 

 it lie down by a pressure of her nose ; and it will never 

 stir or lift up its head the whole of the day, unless you 

 come right upon it, as I have often done. It lies like a dog 

 with its nose to its tail. The hind, however, although she 

 separates herself from the young fawn, does not lose sight 

 of its welfare, but remains at a distance to the windward, 

 and goes to its succour in case of an attack of the wild cat 

 or fox, or any other powerful vermin. I have heard Mr. 

 John Crerer say, and it is doubtless true, that if you find a 

 young fawn that has never followed its dam, and take it 

 up and rub its back, and put your fingers into its mouth, it 

 will follow you home for several miles ; but if it has once 

 followed its dam for ever so small a space before you found 

 it, it will never follow human beings. When once caught, 

 these fawns or calves are easily made tame; and there were 

 generally a few brought up every year by the dairymaid 

 at Blair. I speak of hinds only ; stags soon turn vicious and 

 unmanageable. When the calf is old enough to keep up 



