164 VERTEBKATKS. 



there are scarcely aty but the Prickets and the young Stags which 

 go together. In general, the Stags are inclined to remain with 

 each other, and to roam abroad in companies ; it is only firom fear 

 or necessity that they are ever found dispersed or separated. 



The Roebuck, though a much smaller animal than the 

 stag, is, however, more graceful, vivacious, and courageous. It 

 differs froni the stag, not only in superior cunning, but also in its 

 natural appetites, inclinations, and whole habits of living. Instead 

 of herding together like the latter, the species of the former live 

 in separate families : the sire, the dam, and the young ones, form 

 of themselves a little community, nor do they ever admit a stranger 

 into it. All other animals of the deer kind are inconstant in their 

 affection. The Roebuck never forsakes its mate; and, as they 

 have been generally bred up together, the male and female form 

 for each odier the strongest attachment. 



The female of this species goes with young five months and 

 a half, and brings forth about the end of April, or the beginning 

 of May. The female separates herself from the male, when she 

 is about to bring forth, retiring into the thickest part of the woods, 

 in order to avoid the wolf, which is her most dangerous enemy. 

 At the expiration of about ten or twelve days, the Fawns, of which 

 there are generally two at a birth, attain strength enough to follow 

 her. When they have attained the age of nine or ten months, she 

 drives them off to do for themselves. 



The Fallow Deer. — No two animals can be more nearly 

 allied than the Stag and the Fallow Deer; and yet no two animals 

 keep more distinct, or avoid each other with more fixed animosity. 

 They are never seen to herd in the same place ; it is even rare, 

 unless they have been transported thither, to find Fallow Deer in 

 a country where stags are numerous. 



It frequently happens that a herd of Fallow Deer is seen 

 to divide into parties, and to engage each other with great ardor. 

 Each seems desirous of gaining some favorite spot of the park for 

 pasture, and of driving the vanquished party into the cosirser and 

 more disagreeable parts. Each of these factions has its particular 

 chief, namely, the oldest and the strongest of each herd. These 



