356
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
fully formed with hooves, tail and hair—grey in colour; unfor-
tunately the head had already been eaten. It was also near this
spot that I found both an antler (C) and a skeleton (D). The
antler was found in the spring about five years ago, just after it
had been shed—it is a seven point with prominent guttering. The
skeleton was that of a buck which was found for me by some
village people, who saw it leaning against a tree complete with
antlers, but by the time I got on the scene the antlers had been
taken and the bones were scattered over a fairly wide area.
In the Spring of 1964 I found a large clump of bushes (E 1), an
ant hill (E2) and a tussock of grass (E3), round each of which
were deer clefts, apparently going in an anti-clockwise direction.
These could have been made by one deer going round a great
many times, which I very much doubt, or by several deer chasing
one another around, but in the case of E2 not one cleft mark can
be seen on the hill and some of the marks indicate that at least
one deer has been going sideways. What is the significance of
this I wonder?
By the end of May the bucks are beginning to lose their antlers
and in June the fawns are born, this is the time of the year when
they hide away in the thickest areas and are seldom seen. I have
only once seen a very young fawn (F) and that was the end of June
1963, when I was walking in the thickets one evening. The
mother was in a small glade and looked very agitated, so I left her
alone and walked towards some brambles and ferns. There was
suddenly a terrific heaving of undergrowth. I had almost stepped
on a new born fawn. Its legs were not yet strong enough to
support it, and it had simply struggled out of my immediate path.
It was very pale beige in colour and strongly dappled. Needless
to say, I quickly departed.
It is usually mid-July before one sees the fawns and then
one often walks into a glade or ride to see, perhaps, two does with
their fawns scampering around, or else a single doe with her fawn
close to her, browsing the lush grass of a damp but sheltered spot.
I have only once seen twins (G).
There seems to be a good deal of variation in the colouring of
the animals, although most are of the ordinary light variety. In
the winter of 1963-64 I saw two dark bucks, one of which was
obviously the leader of a herd of about thirty or forty. During the
summer of 1963 a light doe with a dark fawn was seen in Deer
Field (L) (the name of this field seems very apt, for I have often
seen deer along its edge), and in the autumn of 1964 a dark doe
appeared (I). There is also a white buck with a long shaggy coat
and large antlers, which has been seen at Beggars Hall and I per-
sonally have seen in Monks Wood, Woodside Green, in the spring
of 1963. I have also been told of a young buck, which is very pale
in colour with dark spots on its back. It did not appear to have
any streaks down the rump.
I have never watched other mammals in the same way as the
deer, but I often see a fox in Beggars Hall ride, and in 1958 I saw