2288 Quadrupeds. 



a pair will mine in a year, but probably from twenty-five to thirty yards, — a great 

 amount of labour, considering it is principally accomplished with their feet. When 

 the pair have fixed upon a place for breeding, the female takes possession of the hole, 

 whilst the male finds quarters elsewhere, generally in a neighbouring hedgerow not far 

 distant. When the breeding-season commences, the greater part of the males are 

 driven from or leave the warren, and occupy its outskirts. If a hole is burrowed 

 in a field it generally inclines downwards ; but on digging out their holes by the side 

 of a brook, I noticed that they direct them upwards (a precaution which I have often 

 admired), in order to prevent the waters washing into the cavity : this fact I have fre- 

 quently noticed. 



Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). In Donnington Park is a small herd of these magni- 

 ficent and noble animals : they appear bounding away amongst oaks of a thousand 

 years' growth, or standing majestically beneath some fine spreading elm. In 

 autumn they make a deep grunting or bellowing noise, which causes the woods to 

 echo ; and although it is anything but agreeable in tone, it is nevertheless always 

 heard with pleasure, for it seems a suitable sound to be produced by an animal haunt- 

 ing forests and chases, glens and old woods. Harsh sounds are sometimes agreeable 

 on account of the associations to which they give rise ; and for this reason the noise 

 of this deer is always acceptable, for it invariably leads the mind to beautiful haunts, 

 — the smooth greensward over which the deer bounds, the still pool where he drinks, 

 and the venerable oak by which he is overshadowed. When pressed by hounds, the 

 leaps or bounds of this animal are beautiful : I knew one which — after four hours hard 

 running — crossed a brook by a bound of twenty- four feet. 



In Donnington Park, too, there is a fine herd of fallow deer, numbering about five 

 hundred head. In the autumn they become bold and pugnacious, and fight like rams, 

 attacking each other with great spirit ; and very amusing it is to see their curious ma- 

 noeuvres, and pleasing to hear the rattle of their antlers. These contests last often- 

 times for hours, until the defeated deer shrinks back to his companions or bounds away 

 amongst the oaks : occasionally he is so fatigued that he seems scarcely able to leave 

 the spot. At this period it is dangerous for persons to go through the park where they 

 are depastured. When does drop their fawns they sometimes cover them up with dead 

 leaves and pieces of fern, either for concealment or to make them warm and comfort- 

 able. Fallow deer have a pretty habit of raising themselves on their hind legs, in 

 order to crop the young shoots and leaves of trees that are just above their reach. In 

 order that their antlers may not become entangled amongst the branches, they show a 

 piece of adroitness worthy of note; they let them drop down backwards on their 

 shoulders, as a hare does her ears when squatted in her form. I have seen this deer, 

 in cases of emergency, resort to a cunning stratagem to avoid pursuit, i. e. drop down 

 suddenly amongst the long fern, her hind legs bent beneath her body and her head 

 and neck laid flat on her fore feet : in this position the body lies in a wonderfully 

 small compass. Owing to the large herds of deer kept in Donnington Park, the turf 

 in the unwooded parts is beautifully soft and green, for of all our large wild animals 

 fallow deer are the closest grazers. In winter they nibble all the lower branches of 

 trees, and during frosts and snows are fed by the keepers with the branches of trees 

 and the thinnings of young plantations; and so adroitly do these animals peel off the 

 bark, to which they seem very partial, that the boughs appear to have been stripped 

 by woodmen or persons skilled in the operation. In a ramble over Kedleston Park, I 

 once beheld a novel and interesting spectacle : a herd of fallow deer, feeding in the 



