■ RED DEER. 353 



Majesty's Buckhounds and other packs are tame Deer 

 whose antlers have been sawn off, and which are brought 

 to the meet in a cart, in which they return in ignoble 

 safety to their paddock after the chase is concluded. 



The Red Deer, like most of the family, is a gregarious 

 animal. Except in the rutting season, the sexes remain 

 separate, the Hinds, Calves, and young males consorting 

 together, and usually preferring lower ground than that 

 frequented by the full-grown Stags. In its choice of 

 ground this species varies much in different countries. 

 On the Continent it is almost exclusively known as an 

 inhabitant of the largest forests, where it hides itself by 

 day in the densest thickets, and comes out to feed by 

 night in the open glades and meadows, or invades the 

 nearest cultivated grounds. In Scotland, on the other 

 hand, it ranges over the barren and exposed hills, shel- 

 tering itself in the glens and corries, and living as 

 thoroughly a mountain life as the Reindeer of the Nor- 

 wegian fjelds. 



The pairing season begins in the end of September, 

 or beginning of October, and lasts about three weeks. 

 The full-grown Stags then wander about in search of 

 the Hinds, and make the rocks and mountains resound 

 with their " belling " or roaring on moonlight nights, 

 and in the early morning. When two Stags of similar 

 size and strength fix their affections on the same female a 

 desperate fight ensues, which not unfrequently proves fatal 

 to one or even to both — for not a few cases have been 

 recorded in which the combatants have interlocked their 

 antlers so firmly as to be unable to separate, and so have 

 perished miserably. During these duels the Hinds never 

 interfere, but look on or graze in serenity till the rival 

 suitors have settled their pretensions. The female goes 

 with young eight months and a few days, and has usually 



z z 



