1885-86.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club. 285 



In the spring of each year the antlers, which have become gradu- 

 ally loosened, drop off. We might expect to find great numbers 

 of those head-ornaments scattered throughout Deer-forests, but in 

 this country the Deer appear invariably to eat them. This curious 

 habit has puzzled numbers of naturalists, but I think there can 

 be no doubt ujDon the question, as Hinds have been seen gnawing 

 at the cast-off antlers ; and a case is mentioned where one was 

 found dead by a late Duke of Athole, which had been choked while 

 trying to swallow part of an antler. One thing is certain, and that 

 is, that any one may wander for days over Deer-forests, both on the 

 mainland of Scotland and Western Isles, without finding even a 

 scrap of an antler. I once was fortunate enough to make such a 

 find in the Rannoch district, and the fragment is before you on the 

 table. You will observe that it exhibits signs of having been 

 gnawed at one end, and perhaps the Deer had been frightened 

 in some way while busy eating, and did not return to complete its 

 meal. If you ask any gillie, he will tell you that the Deer eat 

 their antlers ; and though he may never have seen the animals 

 engaged in the operation himself, still you will find he has not the 

 least doubt that they thus dispose of these cast-off appendages. 

 The statements we have seen regarding Eed Deer having been 

 noticed eating their antlers only mention Hinds having been ob- 

 served thus engaged. This seems rather curious, and it would be 

 interesting to have fuller information upon this point, as it is diffi- 

 cult to suggest any advantage likely to accrue to the Hinds from 

 eating these antlers ; while if the Stags themselves were known 

 to eat these bones, it might be offered as a possible suggestion that 

 they were storing up material to aid the formation of the antlers of 

 the following year. However, as far as the evidence at our dis- 

 posal goes, it prevents the adoption of this theory. That large 

 quantities of Deer antlers are obtainable from some source is evi- 

 dent, when one thinks of the vast quantities of this material used 

 for the handles of cutlery. Probably the greater portion is obtained, 

 not from the Eed Deer, but from some allied species, such as 

 the Reindeer, Both male and female of this variety of Deer have 

 antlers ; and as immense herds are domesticated, it is compara- 

 tively easy for the owners of these herds to collect the antlers 

 before the animals have time to destroy them. With the wild 

 Deer it is, however, entirely different. We find from a paper in 

 ' Science Gleanings,' written by Mr John Gibson of the Museum of 

 Science and Art, that " about four hundred tons weight of antlers 

 are said to be annually imported into Britain from India and Ceylon, 

 and one hundred tons from the continent of Europe, while Green- 

 land supplies a very large quantity." 



It has been observed in North America that Deer seem to visit 

 certain localities to shed their antlers, and in these circumstances 



VOL. I, u 



