MATING 6 1 



a fight which must necessarily be onesided. Well- 

 developed bays and brow antlers are of the greatest advan- 

 tage as they offer very effectual protection to the head and 

 neck of their possessor. In rare instances the horns become 

 so firmly entangled that they cannot be disengaged. The 

 result is of course inevitable death to both animals, unless by 

 good luck it happens late in the season, when the horns may 

 fall before the animals succumb. A few pairs of locked 

 horns have been picked up, but in every case I know of 

 they were still attached to the heads. In all probability it 

 frequently happens that horns are knocked off during a fight. 

 Whether or not this ends the fight I do not know, as I have 

 never seen it happen and do not know of anyone who has, 

 but it is a common thing to see even large stags during the 

 rutting season carrying only a single horn, the burr being 

 badly inflamed as though the horn had been wrenched off 

 by force before it was ready to drop. 



One might be tempted to ask why the animals fight. 

 But the question cannot be answered, because no person 

 knows for certain. Apparently it is the desire to acquire 

 the does, utterly regardless of the number already possessed. 

 Perhaps it is simply that the animal is in a passionate 

 condition and so highly irritable that the sight of a possible 

 rival in a similar frame of mind and body inspires a desire 

 to fight. Possibly it is only an exuberance of spirits or 

 animal strength seeking outlet, but whatever may be the 

 immediate cause, it is in all probability Nature's method 

 of selecting the most powerful animals to be the progenitors 

 of the species ; just as man improves a breed of domestic 

 animals by careful selection of the sires, so Nature demands 

 among some species that certain qualifications shall be 

 necessary in order that the race shall be strong and 

 vigorous enough to hold its own in the great battle of life 



