Red Deer 37 
Albinoes, or parti-coloured varieties of wild animals, when kept in confinement seldom 
make such a fine appearance as those of the normal colour ; but this, I think, cannot be 
said of the white Red deer kept in several parts of England. Sir Robert Harvey has the 
largest collection at Langley, near Slough. Mr. Whitaker gives the number as thirty-five. 
In Cranbourne Park, an enclosure of the great park at Windsor, and belonging to Her 
Majesty the Queen, there is to-day a herd of thirty of these animals, while Woburn has 
eighteen, and at Ashbridge there is only one left. At Welbeck, in the White Park there 
were in March 1896, when I visited it and took photographs, two white stags, three 
brockets, and eight hinds and calves. One of the stags was a splendid fellow, his head 
rivalling any of those of his albino predecessors hanging in Welbeck. 
These Welbeck deer have pink noses and straw-coloured eyes. Strictly speaking, their 
coats are somewhat of a dirty cream colour, being not nearly so white as those of the white 
fallow deer in the same park, though when standing against dark trees with the sun shining 
on them they show some approximation to white. 
The origin of the white deer in this country seems to be unknown. They probably 
came from some of the German princes or kings of Denmark, who have always had some 
albinoes of this description. The King of Denmark gave the late Marquis of Breadalbane 
some partial albinoes. They were turned out at Taymouth, and their only descendants left 
are two bald-faced hinds which live in the sanctuary at Black Mount, where I have seen 
them on several occasions. 
The Duke of Portland, to whose kindness I am indebted for being able to give the 
pictures of the white deer here produced, takes a great interest in this particular herd, and 
endeavours to keep up the purity of the breed as far as possible. Unfortunately, however, 
a few seasons ago an ordinary coloured stag managed to clear the high fence several times 
during the rutting season, and jumped back again without being discovered. The result was, 
of course, several parti-coloured calves, which had to be removed. 
One would scarcely think it possible that so small an animal as the Japanese deer could 
mate with the red deer hind, but it has actually happened in several British parks where 
Japs are now kept. Lord Powerscourt has bred no less than four of these hybrids, all males, 
two of which—really splendid little fellows—I had the pleasure of seeing in Lebruary 1896. 
Curiously enough, one seemed to take entirely after the male parent, and the other after the 
female. There was no question about their warlike disposition ; they were more than a 
match for the best Red stag in the park ; and a hybrid shot by his Lordship two seasons 
previously had assassinated the two best Red stags before retribution overtook him. 
Japanese deer, which, by the way, above all others, should never be allowed to become the 
least tame, are also kept at Leonardslee (Sir Edmund Loder), Colebrooke (Sir Douglas 
Brooke), and Melbury (the Earl of Ilchester). Their venison is delicious, and they increase 
more rapidly and are hardier than any foreign deer in existence. 
Wapiti would do well in this country on a dry soil like that of the Downs, but, so far 
as I am aware, no one has tried them there. Lord Powerscourt kept them for some years 
at his seat in County Wicklow, but the stags eventually became savage and had to be 
destroyed. At present only Sir Peter Walker and Mr. Naylor-Leyland have these grand 
beasts in their parks, but I gather from Sir Arthur Grant that he is about to try to cross 
