124 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



have known one as early as May 25, and as late as October 20, 

 but both these dates may be taken as extremes. They are on their 

 feet and quite active a few hours after birth. When a doe is about 

 to give birth to a fawn she goes from the herd and selects a quiet 

 spot, where she leaves her fawn for some hours before returning 

 to feed it. This takes place in the evening. The next morning 

 the fawn will probably be found some distance from where it was 

 seen the previous evening. 



The first fortnight of its life is spent in sleep during the day and 

 feeding and play at night. When about fourteen days old it follows 

 the mother, and is seldom seen from her side mixing with the herd. 

 If the weather is warm when fawns are born, in about three days 

 afterwards they are strong enough to make their escape from most 

 enemies, unless it be a very fast dog. The following incident will 

 show the strength and activity of fawns even at birth. I once knew 

 of a doe which gave birth to a fawn. A friend of mine rode up 

 to it for the purpose of earmarking (a custom for keeping up the 

 stock), when up it got and went over the sea cliff, swimming out 

 to sea about two hundred yards and returning to the same spot ! 

 He marked it, and carried it into the park none the worse for its 

 adventure. Seven years afterwards he killed it, and it was then a 

 fat buck weighing 140 lb. clear. 



Some does have their first fawn at two years old, while others 

 do not breed until the third year. They usually breed until about 

 fourteen years of age, and may live a few years longer. Bucks 

 are not so long-lived as does, for nine years is a good age for the 

 former, although much depends on the park. On a rich pasture 

 Deer do not live so long as on poorer land. A buck is at his best 

 when seven years of age; after this his horns deteriorate each year, 

 and if left the chances are that he will get killed by stronger animals 

 during the rutting season or die in the Winter through being unable 

 to get sufficient food for an already weak body. In the buck the 

 horns increase in size annually till he is six or seven years old. 



Deer vary in different parks both in size of body and horn 

 growth. In some parks I have known some remarkably heavy 

 animals with very poor heads, and in others good heads on very 

 small bodies. This variation is due to the soil, although no doubt 

 in-breeding has often something to do with poor heads. In- 

 breeding always shows more in the horn than body. Mr. T. Bam- 

 ford, head-keeper to the Earl of Clarendon, tells me that he has 



