106 PROTECTION AGAINST ANIMALS. 



d. Rubbing and Striking. 



The stags rub their antlers against trees to remove the 

 velvet at the end of July and August, generally by night, artd 

 they select for the purpose slender smooth poles of lime, 

 aspen, sallow, larch, Weymouth-pine, silver-fir, maple, etc., 

 especially when these species are scattered among other forest 

 growth. Scots pine poles are also injured in this way by 

 deer in the Ardennes. 



Stags also strike their antlers against trees at rutting-time 

 in September and October, and before they lose them in 

 March and April. The damage done in this way is less than 

 by peeling, as the same trees serve over and over again for 

 the purpose. It can readily be distinguished from peeling by 

 the filaments of bark which occur on the wound, and by the 

 hairs of the deer adhering to it, from the deer's habit of 

 rubbing its neck on the peeled stem. 



e. Trampling. 



Damage done by trampling is confined to young growth and 

 sowings of conifers ; 1- and 2-year-old 'plants on steep slopes 

 with loose soil suffer most of all, being frequently uprooted. 



/. Total Amount of Damage. 



More experience is" required regarding the total amount of 

 damage done to forests by red-deer. A forester who is at the 

 same time a sportsman, should endeavour to ascertain clearly 

 the amount of sacrifice of income his sport involves, so that 

 he may be able to keep the number of deer within proper 

 limits. Until the damage done under certain circumstances 

 has been properly observed, sympathy with sport, or antipathy 

 to it, give the question a wide range. It may not be possible 

 to estimate the proportional amount of damage done respec- 

 tively by browsing, peeling, trampling, etc., but in a forest 

 frequented by deer, certain compartments might be fenced and 

 others left open, and comparative yield-figures ascertained, 

 from which the extent of the damage done, in the latter case, 

 may be deduced. 



As regards the damage to meadows adjoining forests that 



