THE COLORATION OF LARGE ANIMALS 21 
in the following passage from Dr. L. Robinson’s “ Wild 
Traits in Tame Animals,” which refers to a scene in 
Greenwich Park :— 
“The dappled fallow-deer were grazing among the 
chestnut-trees or lying down upon the soft grass. I sat 
down on a seat to watch them, determined, if possible, 
to learn something fresh from them before I moved from 
the spot. One could not help noticing how remarkably 
their mottled skins, angular outlines, and branching horns 
fitted them for concealment in the glades of the forest. 
Even here, where the surroundings were to a large extent 
artificial, every now and then the eye would suddenly 
chance upon a deer resting among the chequered shadows, 
which was so inconspicuous that it had previously escaped 
notice.” 
Assuming, then, that the object of the dappled coat is to j 
harmonise with the splashes of sunlight and shade beneath 
forest trees in summer, it is perfectly obvious that in tem- | 
perate latitudes such a type of coloration would be quite out 
of place in winter, when the forest trees have shed their 
leaves. Accordingly the fallow-deer exchanges its dappled 
summer livery for a uniform coat of fawn more in harmony 
with the sombre colour prevalent in nature generally during 
the northern winter. A precisely similar change takes place 
in the Japanese deer and its relative, the Peking deer of 
Manchuria, both of which have bright chestnut coats dappled 
with large white spots in summer, while in winter they 
are clothed in sombre brown. It is, moreover, noticeable 
that in the Peking deer the summer coat is exchanged 
for the winter dress comparatively early in the season— 
doubtless in correlation with the early advent of winter 
in its native habitat. 
The Japanese and Peking deer have, however, a repre- 
