122 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



Fallow Deer are the most common in England ; therefore we will 

 deal with that species first. 



Some writers tell us these animals were brought to England 

 by the Romans, but this may be because we have no mention of 

 them at an earlier period. It has been repeatedly stated that the 

 dark variety of Fallow Deer was brought from Norway by James I. 

 to improve those already in our parks, but Mr. Harting has shown 

 clearly that this variety existed in English parks long before James's 

 day ! Equally erroneous is the statement that the spotted variety, 

 known formerly as Menil, was brought from Manilla. 



Outside park fences Fallow Deer have been found in a wild 

 state in the New Forest, Epping Forest, Rockingham Forest, and 

 one or two other places, where a few still exist. 



The food of Fallow Deer consists chiefly of grass, acorns, beech- 

 mast, chestnuts, berries of the white thorn, young tender shoots of 

 beech, hazel, ash, bark, roots, and corn of all kinds, in fact little 

 comes amiss to them in the vegetable world. They will even chew 

 up shed horns and bones ! I have often seen them eating scraps of 

 cooked meat and other refuse that has been thrown away after 

 clearing out ashpits, and have also known clothes that have been 

 hung out to dry to be eaten by them ! 



Fallow Deer shed their coats in the early Spring. If they have 

 had good Winter feeding and the weather comes mild they begin 

 to disrobe about the middle of March and get their new coats com- 

 plete about the end of April. The greater part of the old coat is 

 pulled out by the Deer themselves and may be seen on the ground 

 in mouthfuls. Jackdaws use the hair for lining their nests, and 

 are often seen on a Deer's back helping themselves ! 



A change of coat means a change of colour too. The dark 

 variety of Deer becomes much darker" in the Summer, and the 

 lighter coloured ones become paler. Just before the last of the old 

 coat is off they shed their horns, the older bucks being the first to 

 lose these appendages, and the younger ones, according to age, a 

 little later. 



The shedding of old horns is caused through the new growth 

 pushing the old ones off, exactly in the same way as the teeth of 

 an infant have to make room for permanent ones. The whole of 

 the new growth takes place in about fifteen weeks. After the horns 

 have done growing they begin to harden, the blood-vessels dry up, 

 and the velvet is pealed off by being rubbed against trees, fences, or 



