FALLOW-DEER. 
33 
but 6 — 6| ; exceeding also the huge horns of the Wapiti, measuring but 8^ 
around burr. I think, therefore, we may argue with some show of reason, that 
the extinct animal was of considerable size. The ‘ I/eicester Chronicle and 
Mercury ’ of 24th Oct., 1885, contained the following : — “ Saddixgtox. — A Strange 
Visitor. — During the last few days this village has been visited by a fine 
Stag. The animal has been roving about the locality for some time, and has 
been chased by the rustics and Sheep Dogs. The visitor, although on many 
occasions hard pressed by his canine foes, had the advantage in getting over 
the fences, and thus got safely away. The fine antlers of the Stag have startled 
many persons, by whom he is regarded as a phenomenon. He is believed to have 
strayed from Dingley Park.” 
In Rutland. — Lord Gainsborough writes me that, toward the end of 1887, 
he introduced the Red Deer into Exton Park, and he does not believe it exists 
•.anywhere else in the county. 
FALLOW-DEER. Cervus dama, Linnaius. 
“ Buck ” (male), “ Doe ” (female), “ Fawn ” (young). 
Resident and breeding in semi-confinement in the Deer-parks of Beaumanor, 
Bosworth, Bradgate, Croxton, Gopsall, etc. Probably introduced into the county 
at the time of the Roman occupation of Leicester, for, although G. dama is of 
Pleistocene age on the Continent, it was undoubtedly introduced into Britain 
by the Romans, as no fossil remains of it have, so far as I know, been found in 
Britain.* In Leicester, unlike G. elaphus, its remains are seldom met with, 
the only examples coming under my notice being three in the IMuseum, viz. : — 
The greater part of a small I'ight antler, sawn from the base and chopped 
at brow-tine ; and basal portion of shed right antler, found in Town Hall I.ane 
in 1872 (depths not recorded) ; also part of small right antler from the Flood 
Works, Braunstone Gate, 1885 (depth not noted). The dark race, common at 
Bradgate and Gopsall Parks, is stated by Bell (‘ British Quadrupeds ’) to have 
been introduced from Norway by James I. ; but Mr. Harting has shewn (‘ Essays 
on Sport and Natural History ’) that this statement, which has been repeatedly 
copied, is without foundation, and that a dark race of Fallow-Deer existed 
in England long before, and was, in fact, noted as early as 1465. An old deed, 
dated 1247, quoted by Potter (pp. 117-19), relates to the hunting and taking 
of Deer in Bradgate Forest, and is interesting as being the earliest known 
hunting agreement in existence. 
A young buck or brocket with budding snags was shot close to Leicester, 
at Knighton, on 11th Nov., 1887. It was of the dark race, and Mr. Thomas 
Lander, who presented the skull to the Museum for the “ Index Collection,” 
thinks it had probably strayed from Bradgate or Bosworth Park. Col. F. Palmer 
* See Boyd Dawkins’ ‘ British Pleistocene Cervidae,’ p. 20. 
D 
