NOTES AND QUERIES. 353 



what annually occurs among these deer may be of interest. In the New 

 Forest, during May, June, July, and August, all the Fallow-deer are 

 uniformly of a light red colour, spotted thickly on the flanks with white and 

 light grey spots — such, in fact, as in parks are termed "fallow" deer. In 

 September the coat begins to change, and by November all the deer are 

 uniformly a very dark brown, almost black, on the back and sides, shading off 

 to a light dun on the flanks, belly, and legs, without auy spots at all. The 

 white patch below the tail is unaltered, but is rather more conspicuous in 

 winter than in summer, owing to the darker colour of the animal. In 

 some individuals the spots in summer are brighter and more numerous 

 than in others; in winter there is but little difference, except that the 

 bucks are, as a rule, slightly lighter in shade than the does. Both of these 

 winter and summer colours are common enough in parks ; but in every 

 case that has come under my observation, those deer which are red and 

 spotted in the summer, remain of the same hue in winter; and those which 

 are dark or black at one season of the year, remain of that colour during the 

 whole twelvemonth. What would be interesting to know is, whether in other 

 places where Fallow-deer are genuinely wild — not where semi-domesticated 

 deer have been turned out and allowed to breed — the same biennial 

 change of colour takes place, and if so, how it comes about that confinement 

 in an enclosed space has altered the habit of the species, as in most parks it 

 certainly has. Wild Roe-deer, as no doubt most readers of ' The Zoologist ' 

 know, change colour in summer, being at that period much the shade 

 of red of a fox ; in winter their colour assimilates nearly to that of a Red- 

 deer. The New Forest deer are the lineal descendants of those which, 

 whether indigenous to this county or not, were existing in that district at 

 the time of the Norman Conquest, when most of the tract of land in which 

 they now roam was afforested. Though their numbers have fluctuated very 

 greatly at different times, yet from that day to this wild Fallow-deer have 

 never been banished from the woodlands of this part of England. Fresh 

 blood may possibly have been introduced from time to time, but the only 

 authentic record of anything of the sort that I am aware of, is that of an 

 importation of Scandinavian deer, very dark in colour, by James I. There 

 can therefore hardly be found a more perfectly wild, undomesticated herd 

 of Fallow-deer than the small remnant which now exists of the thousands 

 which abounded there within the recollection of hundreds of people now 

 alive. There has lately been some discussion in your pages on the subject of 

 albinism in various animals. It may interest your readers to know that in 

 1883 an albino doe fawn was dropped in New Forest. It was at first of a pale 

 chestnut, gradually becoming cream-colour. I killed the animal ultimately, 

 and it had all the appearance of an albino, with the iris of a very pale yellow ; 

 but during its life it produced three fawns, which were all of the same colour 

 as itself, though their sire must have been of the ordinary colour: of these 

 ZOOLOGIST. — OCTOBER, 1892. 2 H 



