Order RUMINANTIA. 



Family CERVID^. Sub-Family Cervina. 

 Genus Cervus. 



THE RED DEER. 



Cervus elaphus, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 37 {^Frontispiece). 



This typical species is unquestionably the grandest wild animal we 

 now possess in the British Islands. Like the rest of its family the Red 

 Deer is characterised by the branching antlers peculiar to the male only 

 in all species except the Reindeer, where they are present in both sexes. 

 They are shed every year, and speedily replaced by an entirely new 

 growth. Another distinguishing character in this group is the spotted 

 coat of the young, which in some species is retained by the adults. 



The Red Deer or Stag measures about four feet high at the withers, 

 and about six feet from nose to end of tail, but different examples vary 

 a good deal in size. The colour in summer is reddish-brown, greyer on 

 the fece and throat, and with a distinct yellowish patch, edged with 

 black, on the hind quarters. 



In late autumn and winter the coat is longer and thicker, especially 

 about the neck, and the colour changes to a greyer brown, which 

 often takes a darker hue from contact with peaty ground, where the 

 animal has * soiled.' 



The pale clay-coloured eye gives the stag a curious sinister expression 

 when excited. Below the eye is a cavity known as the * tear-pit,' con- 

 taining a yellow waxy secretion. 



39 



