deer, and that I intended to keep him for the sole 

 purpose of ascertaining and proving the question. 

 He said that this was the only way in which the 

 diflPerent ages could be possibly ascertained, as no two 

 persons could be found to agree on the subject. At 

 the time that this deer was in my possession, I had an 

 opportunity, which I doubt if any one will again 

 possess, of frequently seeing together a herd of from 

 fifty to eighty, or more, red deer of all ages (then 

 harboured and protected on Brendon Barton and 

 Scobhill, by the late Mr. Knight, of Exmoor,) and 

 which would allow a person on horseback to approach 

 quite close to them, so that I could distinctly trace the 

 growth of the horns of the different animals there 

 assembled, and contrast them with the one in my own 

 possession. This opportunity I frequently embraced, 

 and consequently I consider myself to have been in a 

 position to give more correct information than any 

 person who has yet written on the subject, and the 

 result of my experience I will now proceed to state. 



In the first year of the stag's life there appears a 

 single straight horn, or it may be merely a knob, 

 varying from one to nine inches in length. In the 

 second year he may have what is termed in Devonshire 

 his "brow," "bay," and "tray," which are called 

 antlers ; but frequently there is an absence of one or the 

 other of these, and when this is the case I have 

 observed that it continues as he advances in years, 

 and that the points on the top are diminished accord- 



