Notable features in the red deer are the shortness of the tail, and the straw-coloured patch on the buttocks in which that brief appendage is included; the same features recurring in its near relative the wapiti. As in all similar cases among ruminants, the light rump-patch serves as a guide to the members of a herd; the place of this being taken in certain other species, such as the fallow deer and the American white-tailed deer, by the pure white under surface of the tail, which is raised when the animals are running. The antlers of the stag are characterised by the number and regular arrangement of the tines; and more especially, in their fullest development, by the duplication of the first, or brow, tine, and the cup-like arrangement of the terminal snags. [Illustration] Two features indicate that the red deer is what naturalists term a highly specialised animal. These are, firstly, the shortness of the tail, and, secondly, the white-spotted coat of the fawn, so utterly different from that of the adults of the typical western representative of the species. In the race inhabiting the Caucasus yellowish spots are, however, frequently observable in the coats of full-grown hinds, while similar spots may be developed in adult stags of the North African race,--the so-called Barbary deer. These features clearly indicate that the red deer is descended from a species which was fully spotted at all ages. The range of the red deer includes, with the exception of the far north, practically the whole of Europe, as well as Asia Minor and part of Persia. From many parts of western Europe these splendid animals have, however, been exterminated; and in the British Isles they survive in a wild state only in Devon and Somerset, the highlands and isles of Scotland, and parts of Ireland. The red deer of the Caspian district and the neighbouring countries, commonly known (from its Persian name) as the maral, is a much larger and also a greyer animal, with heavier antlers, than its west European representative. The latter have been split up into several local races, which need not, however, be particularised in this place. The food of the red deer varies considerably according to the time of year, and comprises grass and other herbage, corn, leaves and boughs, bark, acorns, chestnuts, funguses, lichens, and moss. In autumn, when living near cultivated ground, deer will dig up with their hoofs, potatoes, artichokes, and other edible roots. The pairing-time commences early in September, and continues till the middle of October; and at this season, when they utter the well-known bellowing or roaring, the stags not only fight fiercely among themselves for the mastery of the herd, but are highly dangerous to human beings. At no time very amiable, the stags at this season are little better than incarnate fiends. Soon after the breeding-season the antlers are shed, to be replaced by new growths, covered at first with soft velvety skin, the following spring.