CLASS MAMMALIA.
75
Although fossil remains of the Red and Roe Deer are not
infrequently discovered, none of the Fallow Deer have yet
come to light.
The judicial decision which fortunately placed Epping
Forest under the charge of the Corporation of London came
just in time to save the remnant of the Epping Fallow Deer, as
in 1870 the stock in the Forest had dwindled down to only
five or six brace of deer and one buck (Fisher's Forest of
Essex, p. 221, The Field, August 5th, 1876, p. 156, and
Zool., 1888, p. 74).
We have already referred to Mr. J. E. Harting's ex-
haustive paper {Essex Nat., vol. i., p. 46) on " The Deer
of Epping Forest," which is accompanied by illustrations.
In pointing out some of the peculiarities of the Epping
Fallow Deer, he says (p. 56): " The Fallow Deer have
held their own, in spite of all difficulties, until the
present time, and have strangely preserved their ancient
character in regard to size and colour." He goes on
to describe them as comparatively small in size, of
a uniform dark brown, almost black, colour, in which
respect they vary from herds in other parts of the country,
and with very attenuated antlers—characters which he con-
siders show, by their persistency, the probable antiquity of
the stock. Mr. E. N. Buxton, a Verderer of the Forest, con-
siders them to be the only representatives in England of the
ancient Deer (Epping Forest, 4th ed., Lond., 1897, p. 58). A
drawing of the head of a Fallow Buck from the Forest
(now in the Epping Forest Museum), sketched by Mr. H. A.
Cole, forms a frontispiece to the present work. It contrasts
strongly with the head of another Fallow Buck, belong-
ing to the Weald Hall Herd, and also sketched by
Mr. H. A. Cole, which faces this page. This also is in
the Epping Forest Museum.