THE RED DEER'S HOME 



mark applies to England almost entirely. I have no 

 special information as to Ireland. The subject of 

 Irish red deer has been dealt with by several writers 

 of Irish nationality, including Archdeacon Rowan, 

 whose 'Lake Lore' contains a chapter on the red 

 deer of the Killarney Mountains. Mr. R. J. Ussher 

 contributed to the ' Zoologist ' a paper entitled * Notes 

 on Irish Red Deer,' from which some useful informa- 

 tion may be gleaned ('Zool.,' 1882, pp. 81-84). 

 Thompson's ' Natural History of Ireland ' should also 

 be consulted. Our English red deer have received 

 ample justice at the hands of Dr. Collyns and Richard 

 Jefferies, but only as regards that stronghold of the 

 race which exists among the Devonian woodlands. 

 St. John and other Scottish sportsmen have done 

 ample justice to our grand Highland deer ; but, 

 curiously enough, no one except the writer himself has 

 attempted to depict the life of the stag upon the face 

 of the mist-wrapped hills of the English Lake district. 

 This fact may well serve as an excuse for including 

 in the present volume a description of the pictur- 

 esque region in the midst of which the red deer, 

 which once roamed from the shores of the North Sea 

 to the red sandstone cliffs that break the swell of the 

 Irish Channel, have for many years past found their 

 only northern sanctuary. The forest of Martindale is 



