THE RED DEER 
Slowley, Dunster, Horner, Cutbone, Badgworthy, Bray, Youlston, as also 
on Exmoor proper. 
It is curious to note that these western English deer live more exclusively 
by browsing on trees than by grazing on the grass, and in this respect 
they differ from their northern relations, and are similar to the forest 
stags of Germany and the Carpathians. 
Lord Tavistock informs me that it has been found nearly impossible 
to keep deer from the last-named areas in confinement at Woburn, whilst 
those from the Scottish Highlands and the Caucasus are amongst the 
easiest of ruminants to keep in paddocks on a grain and maize diet. 
Let us now revert to the history of Red deer in Scotland and see how 
these animals have fared through the centuries, and how the deer forests 
of the present day came to be formed. In this case the advance of agricul- 
ture, as well as the consequent increase of population, have not been nearly 
so rapid as in the case of England, and this is principally due to the fact 
that the greater part of the northern hills and wastes are, and always 
have been, unfitted except to serve as a sanctuary for the wild animals 
that can flourish there. It is true that quite one -half of the deer forests 
of the present day could support sheep, but when, for various reasons, 
sheep were not found to pay the same rent to the proprietor as deer for 
sport, it is obvious that the animal which is most profitable for the time 
being should be in the ascendant. Truly a day may come when the wealthy 
may have to economize, and then luxuries, of which deer forests are one 
of the most unnecessary, will have to go, and sheep, as necessary food, 
will probably again come into favour. 
War and the chase, followed by feasts and the strife of bards, composed 
the life of the ancient tribes of Caledonia. Hunting was the chief pastime, 
as well as the means of existence, of the early Celts, although they kept 
a few domestic animals and cultivated a little rough corn in clearings 
in the valleys. “The desert,” cries Fingall, “is enough for me, with all 
its woods and deer! ” The vicissitudes of the chase — that mimic of war 
itself — were gallant training for the future warriors, and served to make 
a nation of fighters. Fittis tells us that, “ in his mythological creed, the 
Gael believed that the spirits of the dead found delight in pursuing aerial 
deer over the mountains of the silent land, and often those of earth.” 
The poet, Ossian, too, is equally romantic. “The departed children of 
earth,” he says, “pursue deer formed of clouds, and bend their airy bows. 
They still love the sport of their youth, and mount the wind with joy.” 
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