FALLOW DEER. 



£83 



horn. An antler or simple slender process rises 

 from the base of each, and a similar one at some 

 distance above the first ; both pointing somewhat 

 forwards. In its general form the animal greatly 

 resembles the stag, having the same elegance of 

 aspect, with ^ more gentle disposition. 



The Fallow Deer is not so universal as tlie stag, 

 and is even a rare animal in some parts of Europe, 

 as in France and Germany, but in Spain is said to 

 be found nearly equal to the stag in size. It oc- 

 curs, according to Mr. Pennant, in the woods of 

 Lithuania and Moldavia, as well as in Greece, 

 Palestine, and the northern parts of China. In 

 America it has never been found, the animals 

 sometimes called American Fallow Deer belono-- 

 ing to a different species, peculiar to that conti- 

 nent. 



The manners of the FalloAv^ Deer resemble those 

 of the stag, but it is observed to be less delicate 

 in the choice of its food ; eating a variety of ve- 

 getables which are refused by the former. It ar- 

 rives at full growth and perfection in about three 

 years, and is said to live about twenty. 



The horns are annually shed, as in the stag, 

 but at a somewhat later period. At their first ap- 

 pearance they resemble a pair of soft tumid knobs 

 or tubercles, and are covered with a villous and 

 very vascular skin : they gradually enlarge, 

 lengthen, and widen at their tops ; and when at 

 full growth, the skin, with all its apparatus of 

 vessels, which had served to nourish the horns, 

 being grown useless, is rubbed off by the animal, 



