332 BRITISH MAMMALS 



As regards defence against attack, some of the heavy-bodied 

 polled or " humble " stags (as already related) seem to be more 

 successful in the struggle for the possession of the hinds than 

 even those which have developed magnificent antlers. The polled 

 stags can butt with their pedicles and bony foreheads most 

 effectively. They do not waste time by fencing with their 

 horns, as do those gifted with antlers, and, having no horns 

 themselves, they offer no leverage by which, through a cunning 

 wrench, they could, in wrestling, be thrown to the ground. 

 Therefore, inasmuch as the rival stag provided with antlers 

 could probably only stab to kill if he were able to throw his 

 hornless enemy, he is unable to do much harm, and whilst he 

 is considering his plan of campaign he is pushed and butted off 

 the ground by the heavy, hornless male. It is undoubtedly the 

 strongest and most vigorous stags, but not necessarily the 

 largest antlered, that secure the most considerable harem. 



The antlers of the red deer (as of other Cervines) illustrate 

 to some extent in their gradual increase of growth the progress 

 of evolution in the deer tribe generally. A male fawn born, say, 

 in May, begins to grow an antler the following spring. This is 

 a simple prong from 6 in. to i ft. long, sometimes ending 

 in a slight knob. When the stag is only two years old its 

 second growth of antler, which is merely slightly curved, and 

 is more erect than in the fully developed animal, has a small 

 brow tine and a trez (not always present in both antlers — 

 represented, perhaps, in the left-hand antler by a mere knob), 

 and beyond the trez the beam extends for some distance farther, 

 and ends in a simple bifurcation. In the third year's antler 

 the bez tine makes its appearance, perhaps only on one side, the 

 whole antler increasing, of course, in length. In the fifth year 

 of the creature's life each antler has a frontal, a bez, and a trez 

 tine. In the sixth year the terminal bifurcation begins to form 

 a cup, with three points on one side. In the seventh year there 

 will be probably three points to each cup. After this, if the 

 stag is a good one and of a good breed, the points in and about 

 the terminal portion, or cup, go on increasing in numbers and 



