Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
FAL'LOW-DEER. "Deer" is The Bubale, or Fallow-Deer of Scripture. ) a general name of a class of quadrupeds, as the stag, fallow-deer, reindeer, elk, etc., but the animal is never mentioned by this generic name in the Bible. The deer mentioned in 1 Kgs 4:23 was, by the Levitical law, a clean animal. Deut 14:5. It was formerly supposed to be the European red deer, called fallow from its pale-red or yellow color. Tristram and other late authorities make it the bubale (Alcelaphus bubalis) or "wild cow" of the Arabs. This deer, from its heavy, calf-like build, was classed by Orientals among cattle.
It was valued for its venison, is still found in northern Africa and Arabia, and probably once dwelt in Palestine. Lieut. " Naturalists who have examined the skin which Lieut. Conder brought to England state that this animal does not differ perceptibly from the European roebuck, which is therefore seemingly the animal that furnished Solomon's table with choice venison. See Roe.