264 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



of large breeding antlers and a smaller non- breeding pair ; tbe former 

 being shed in September or October, and the latter in January or 

 February. 



Some uncertainty prevailed for a considerable period as to whether 

 this double change was merely an individual peculiarity, or whether it 

 is a normal feature of the stags ot this species. 



The following note, kindly communicated to the writer by the Duchess 

 of Bedford, tends to show that it is constant : — 



" I really think," writes Her Grace," it is quite safe now to say that 

 the Pere David stags do shed their horns twice a year. The whole of 

 our eight adult stags cleared their horns at the same time, and of course 

 I know that they were also just clean in February [1901], at least two 

 of them, but I cannot give positive dates tor the whole party till next 

 spring. 



" It is also curious how at one time a perfectly healthy adult stag 

 grows a large pair of horns and next time a small one, not regularly in 

 alternate seasons or changes, but, I believe, at a certain age ; this, however, 

 will require years of observation to determine." Later observations indicate 

 the constancy of a double growth of antlers each year. 



The object of this double antler-change, which must involve a heavy 

 strain on the system of the animals in which it occurs, is by no means 

 easy to divine, but it may be noticed that, as the normal breeding pair of 

 antlers are not grown in the late summer, this species escapes the serious 

 annoyance from Hies to which the iuiropean red deer is exposed when its 

 antlers are in the velvet. 



To return to the description of the animal, it may be noted that a 

 distinctive feature is the great relative length of the tail, which reaches 

 the hocks, and is donkey-like rather than deer-like in form. The head is 

 long and narrow, with a prominent ridge for the support of the antlers, 

 moderate-sized ears, and a narrow and pointed muzzle. A gland and tuft 



