93 o THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



distributed over Europe, Asia (north of the Himalayas), Northern Africa, and North 

 America, and is mainly characterized by the conformation of the antlers. These (as- 

 shown in the illustration and in A of the figure on p. 928) have both a brow and a 

 bez-tine, and a nearly cylindrical beam, splitting up into two or more points at the 

 summit. The tail is short, and the buttocks are marked by a light colored disc-like 

 patch, which includes the tail, while the rest of the hair is uniformly colored. All 

 the members of the group are of large size, and their young are spotted. 



The red deer is characterized by the surroyals of the antlers of 



the adult having at least three points, and thus forming a cup in the 



middle of the crown, the total number of points being not less than twelve. Such 



a stag is called in Scotland a Royal Hart. The number of points in the crown may, 



however, be greatly increased, as shown in the 

 accompanying figure of an antler dug up many 

 years ago in an Irish bog. In the stag to which 

 this antler belonged, the total number of points, if 

 the two antlers were symmetrical, would have been 

 thirty, but instances are recorded where there are 

 as many as forty-five and even sixty-six points. 

 The latter number must, however, be regarded as 

 abnormal. At the present day no Scotch stag ever 

 has antlers of the complexity of the one shown in 

 the cut, and it would indeed be very doubtful 

 if that specimen could even be matched among the 

 living deer of Eastern Europe, where the heads are 

 considerably finer than in Scotland. Such antlers, 

 and even larger ones, were, however, not uncom- 

 mon on the Continent a few centuries ago; many 

 magnificent examples are preserved in some of the 

 old German castles, the collection at Moritzburg 

 being especially rich. 



A fine specimen of the red deer will stand fully 

 four feet at the shoulder. The hair on the throat forms a long fringe, most de- 

 veloped in the pairing season. During summer the general color of the pelage is a 

 bright reddish brown, the head and legs being somewhat grayer, the throat pale 

 gray, and the patch on the buttocks yellowish white. In winter, when the fur 

 becomes longer and softer, the color tends to a brownish gray. Wild stags are oc- 

 casionally found white, the tendency to albinism increasing in the domesticated 

 state. A fine Scotch stag will weigh some 280 pounds (20 stone), but they range 

 up to 420 pounds (30 stone), and a stag was killed at Woburn, in 1836, which 

 weighed 476 pounds (34 stone) as it stood. These weights are, however, exceeded 

 by the stags of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The large pair of antlers men- 

 tioned above have a total length of sixty-eight inches, and examples have been 

 obtained from Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, varying from forty-six to forty- 

 eight and one-half inches in length. The antlers of Scotch and Irish stags rarely, 

 however, exceed thirty-three inches, although some of the latter may reach thirty- 



THE RIGHT ANTLER OF A RED 

 DEER FROM AN IRISH BOG. 



