Characteristics.—Steel-grey or red, according to the season. The fawns for the first six months after birth are spotted with white. All these spots are lost by the time it is one year old. Horns of a moderate size, curving forward, with from one to six points on each beam. Only palmated masses of malformation.

Description.—The head long and slender, with pointed muzzle; large black and lustrous eyes, with a very soft expression,—often compared by Western men to those of an Indian maiden; lachrymal cells, long and narrow, and partly concealed by a fold of skin; the legs are long and slender, and upon the inner side of the houghs are glandular pouches, concealed by a tuft of thick yellowish-red hairs; strongly odoriferous in the rutting or running season.

Colour.—Steel-grey in late autumn or winter; red in the spring; darker red or red-brown in the summer. The red or grey, according to the season, is uniform over the head, back, and sides of the deer; the chin, throat, belly, and insides of the thighs always white. The tail black above and white underneath; from being waved high when the animal is startled, it is technically known as ‘the flag.’

Weight.—The bucks weigh from 100 lbs. to 150 lbs.: the does from 80 lbs. to 110 lbs.