The Red Deer 



as worthy trophies of the rifleman's art, they are year 

 by year becoming scarcer under the more artificial 

 conditions in which deer are now fostered in the 

 Highlands of Scotland. These great horns, although 

 infinitely valuable as modern trophies, may in the 

 course of years vanish from the hills. In past times 

 the immense antlers of the noble Red Deer served 

 to shield it from the attacks of its forest foes, but 

 the world has in the interval so altered Nature's plan 

 that these defensive weapons have, in a sense, become 

 almost useless. It is an open question if the hornless 

 or hummel deer will or will not in the future become 

 the monarch of the hills. Certain it is that a hummel 

 stag can hold its own with the stag that carries the 

 most unique "Royal " head. The latter cannot possibly 

 vie with the hummel when it comes to a pitched 

 battle on the rock-strewn mountain. The antlered 

 animal wastes his power and strength in his attempts 

 to strike with his cumbered head, while the hummel 

 deftly hammers its adversary with its fore-legs and 

 sends its opponent headlong into the bed of the corrie. 

 The blood that in former years went to the formation 

 of these mighty " Royals " may in the case of the 

 hummelled animal increase the latter's stamina and 

 weight, and thus give the hornless animal a power 

 that the animal carrying the finely shaped antlers lacks. 

 Perhaps, too, the unornamental animal may find it has 

 to fight to survive ; and Nature — ever kind — has in 

 the interval sharpened its intellect to a degree far 

 B.L.M. 49 7 



