THE RED DEER'S LIFE 31 



of May, but June is the calving month par excellence, 

 A few late hinds delay parturition until the early days 

 of July. It is possible that these hinds failed to con- 

 ceive when first served, and were served again at the 

 end of the rutting season. 



Twin calves are generally considered very unusual, 

 but they are reported to occur nearly every year in 

 Martindale, though only in single instances. They 

 have been known to occur on Dartmoor. It is very 

 pretty to see the solicitude which a hind displays for 

 the safety of her little one. With us in Lakeland the 

 hind drops her young in an open place, in heather, 

 rushes, bracken, or simply on the green sward. She 

 exhibits great reluctance to wander far from her calf 

 when strangers are near. The male calf, or ' Hirsch- 

 kalb ' as the Germans say, follows its dam until the 

 arrival of autumn. If the hind joins the harem of 

 a master stag, her ' Hirschkalb ' is generally driven 

 away by the old stag, and thus weaned from its dam. 

 The case of a female calf, or ' Wildkalb,' is different. 

 The stag allows his consorts to be accompanied by 

 hind calves. Consequently these latter often attend 

 and suck their female parent for upwards of twelve 

 months. The advent of the rut, or ' Brunftzeit ' as 

 it is called in Germany, is the chief fact in the life 

 of the stag. Jackson assures me that even young 



