92 CHILDHOOD OF ANIMALS 



between the young and adult patterns. The young, in by far the 

 greater number of species, are spotted, and although it must cer- 

 tainly be the case that this pattern helps to conceal a fawn lying 

 quietly in the shadow of trees, the presence of spots is so common, 

 whether the deer inhabit woodland or not, that it seems more 

 natural to think of it as a primitive growth character such as is 

 found in many other groups. In some deer the spots are retained 

 throughout life. The beautiful axis deer is always brilliantly 

 spotted, and as it haunts the neighbourhood of trees and comes out 

 readily in the daylight, it may well be that its dappled hide is a 

 protection. The Formosan deer is brightly spotted in its summer 

 coat, and the spots persist, although they are less plainly marked, 

 in the lighter winter coat. The fallow deer are also haunters of 

 woods and forests ; in the most familiar form they are brightly 

 spotted, like the fawns, but the spots disappear with age, and 

 local varieties are known without spots, whilst it has been recorded 

 that some of the fawns are unspotted. In the Japanese deer the 

 fawns are spotted, but the adults in winter are uniformly clad in 

 dark brown, and change again in summer to a lighter spotted coat. 

 The fawns of the hog-deer and the Barasingha or swamp-deer are 

 spotted, and there are rows of spots in the brighter summer pelage of 

 the adults, which are lost in winter, to be renewed again. In a very 

 large number of deer belonging to different groups and with very 

 different haunts and habits, the spotted coat of the fawn is shed in a 

 few months, and although there may be regular changes from summer 

 to winter and from winter to summer pelage the spots never again 

 reappear. This happens with the common red deer {see Plate V) and 

 wapiti and their allies all round Europe, Asia and North America, 

 with Eld's deer, roe-deer, the Chinese water-deer, the curious little 

 brocket deer of America, the Virginian deer, the mule-deer and 

 the very peculiar musk-deer. Finally, there are a few deer belonging 

 to different groups in which there is no trace of spots in the young 

 or the adult. Amongst these are the Sambur deer, except the 

 Philippine Islands form, the muntjacs, reindeer, elk and the Ameri- 

 can guemals and pampas deer. It is at least interesting to notice 

 that spots tend to disappear in winter coats and in the northern 

 races of deer, and that they are retained in deer which are not 

 nocturnal. 



The pig-like little chevrotains or mouse-deer come very close to the 

 ruminants, but do not actually ruminate, and in many ways are 

 intermediate between deer and pigs, certainly representing a very 



