io NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RED DEER 



The stags consort with their fellows, and the hinds 

 feed together to a large extent ; so that, when crossing 

 the fells, one almost expects to see a full-grown stag 

 accompanied by one or more younger animals of his 

 own sex. Small parties of hinds are often to be seen 

 clustering together in sheltered places or out on the 

 tops of the mountains. The sexes mix together to a 

 certain extent at all seasons, with the exception of 

 course of any particular stag which happens to have 

 found some fat pasture which reconciles him to the 

 loneliness of an anchorite life. Broadly speaking, 

 each herd of deer chooses its particular grazing ground 

 according to the season of the year. 



The fells near Bampton and Shap are only visited 

 irregularly. The approach of winter impels many of 

 the older deer to cross over from the * Nab ' to Place 

 Fell, because the locality last named affords a supply 

 of sound heather which stands the deer in good stead 

 in severe weather. The murrain which used to 

 ravage more southern forests in Norman days appears 

 to be now unknown in Westmorland. The spring of 

 the year however makes some gaps in the ranks of 

 the deer ; for it is when the primrose flowers, and 

 the ' Gowk ' sends its challenge echoing through the 

 dales, that the privations of the winter season begin 

 to tell upon the exhausted frames of the weaker 



