300 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 
where trees are few. Under the trees in the forest 
proper there is little food for them. Deer, indeed, seem 
fonder of half-open places than of the wood itself. 
Thickets, with fern at the foot and spaces of sward be- 
tween, are their favourite haunts. Heavily timbered land 
and impenetrable underwood are not so much resorted 
to. The deer here like to get away from the retreats 
which shelter them, to wander in the half-open grounds 
on that part of the park free to them, or, if possible, if 
they see a chance, out into the fields. Once now and then 
a buck escapes, and is found eight or ten miles away. If 
the pale were removed how quickly the deer would leave 
the close forest which in imagination is so associated 
with them! It is not their ideal. They would rather 
wander over the hills and along the river valleys. The 
forest is, indeed, and always would be their cover, and 
its shadows their defence ; but for enjoyment they would 
of choice seek the sweet herbage, which does not flourish 
where the roots of trees and underwood absorb all the 
richness of the soil. The farther the trees are apart the 
better the forest pleases them. Those great instinctive 
migrations. of wild animals which take place annually in 
America are not possible in England. The deer here 
cannot escape—solitary individuals getting free of course, 
now and then; they cannot move in a body, and it is 
not easy to know whether any such desire remains 
among them. So far as I am aware, there is no 
mention of such migrations in the most ancient times; 
but the omission proves nothing, for before the Normans, 
before the game laws and parks together came into 
existence, no one who could write thought enough of 
the decr to notice their motions. The monks were 
engaged in chronicling the inroads of the pagans, or 
writing chronologies of the Roman Empire. On ana- 
