THE FALLOW DEER 
There are many wild Fallow deer in the woods of Surrey, Sussex, and 
Hampshire, but these are all the descendants of recent escapes from parks. 
In Scotland wild Fallow deer exist in the woods of Rosehall and Dornoch, 
in Sutherland, Kinlochluichart, Loch Rosque, in Ross-shire, and a few 
places in central Argyll. At Drumlanrig, in Dumfriesshire, they were 
introduced some time ago from the Duke of Buccleuch’s park of Bough - 
ton, and on his estate they grow to a larger size than in any other place. 
A buck killed by Lord Charles Scott at Drumlanrig weighed twenty-four 
stone as he fell, and eighteen stone clean. 
Fallow deer were introduced into the Dunkeld Forests by the late Duke 
of Atholl early in the nineteenth century. They are still numerous between 
Dunkeld and Cardney, but a few are found all down the Tay Valley, especi- 
ally in the Murthly and Rohallion woods. They also occur in the island of 
Scarba, on the West Coast, where they are said to afford excellent stalking. 
Fallow deer were introduced to Ireland in the Middle Ages, and, according 
to Fynes-Moryson (1599-1603), they were scattered through the woods of 
Wexford and Munster. To-day a few roam in a wild state in many parts of 
Tipperary, Clare, Galway, Waterford, Cork and Kerry. 
In parks. Fallow deer are forced to become very gregarious, which is 
not their natural habit; in a wild state they prefer to roam in small parties, 
hiding in thickets by day, and only coming out into the more open glades 
and wood edges to feed, at dawn and sunset. The two sexes generally keep 
apart during the greater part of the year. 
These deer live principally on grass, but browse on many deciduous 
trees such as horse and Spanish chestnut, rowan and ash. They are very 
fond of chestnuts, thorn and ash bark, and, when food is scarce, will eat 
quantities of holly and ivy. They are far more restless than other deer, 
and feed and lie down at frequent intervals. In summer they rest during 
the greater part of the warm hours of the day, but in winter keep moving 
the whole time, and scatter very much when food is scarce. 
The horns are cast in May; the oldest bucks shedding first, and so on 
to the prickets, which drop theirs about the end of June. First the horn- 
growth is very slow, but during July and August it is more rapid. As a 
rule in English parks they are clean from August 10 to September 10. 
The rut does not take place, as stated in many books, in September, but in 
October, and lasts a very short time, though the large bucks begin pushing 
one another about and testing their horns as soon as they are clean. 
Their fighting powers are not of great account, and consist chiefly of 
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