MUNTJAC: A STUDY OF THESE SMALL ELUSIVE ASIATIC DEER WHICH COLONISED AN ENGLISH GARDEN. By Eileen A. Soper.

1969 1st edition. 8vo (152 x 228mm). Ppxii,142. B/w illustrations by the author, foreword by Dr Ernest Neal. Brown cloth with blind-stamped muntjac motif to upper board, spine titled in gilt.

"Muntjac deer, which have become widely established in the southern counties of England since they were liberated by the Duke of Bedford from Woburn... are one of the most beautiful and also one of the most difficult of our wild animals to observe closely - first, on account of their extreme timidity, and second on account of their size. They stand only about twenty inches high at the shoulder which enables them to travel unseen for long distance in the cover of herbage. This book describes how the author succeeded over a period of eight years in establishing a colony of them at her home, in the garden created as a wild life sanctuary by her father. It tells how their confidence was painstakingly gained... bringing them gradually nearer to the house for observation and sketching. The infinitely patient study of them described in this enchanting account discloses many interesting facts of their social life, their habits and reproduction, which have not been previously known".