THE MANAGEMENT OF DEER FORESTS 117 



it is impossible to drive away the one without at the 

 same time depriving the other of what you intend for 

 his consumption and benefit. 



There can be no doubt that, where the owner of 

 a forest chooses to go to the expense, and has the 

 means of laying down food in suitable places, those 

 deer that get it must gain in weight both of body and 

 horn during the following season. Spring is the 

 ticklish time of year for all animals in the Highlands. 

 If deer are very much reduced during the winter, 

 they are bound to suffer when the grass begins to 

 grow. If they are in good order they proceed to lay 

 on flesh at once, and thus gain the full advantage of 

 the summer grazing. It is in spring that those cold 

 east winds prevail, often accompanied by hot sun in 

 the daytime, which parch the ground and give it a 

 white desert-like appearance. A well-wintered stag 

 must be better able to stand this particularly trying 

 period of the year than one which has only just been 

 able to pull through the cold north-westerly blasts 

 of wind bringing sleet, snow, or rain, which may not 

 improbably have formed with little interruption the 

 weather of the past four months. 



As regards the kind of food which it is proper to 

 provide, hay is far and away the best where it can 

 be procured, and when it can be transported to the 



