82 RED DEER. 



rally to a hind's head. The stag's head is 

 the property of the Master of the Stag- 

 hounds, and it is taken possession of for 

 him when a stag is killed ; consequently 

 few genuine heads of the red stag come 

 into the market. 



To all but a "forester good," a hind's 

 head looks as natural as a stag's when fitted 

 with horns, and fastened to the wall. A 

 single horn will bring a sovereign, and it 

 is by collecting these single horns that 

 most of the pairs are formed, excluding, of 

 course, those presented by the Master. Few 

 pairs thus put together are good, and some 

 very inferior. Somehow or other the stags, 

 and those that bear good heads especially, 

 have a way of dropping their antlers in the 

 most unlikely places. Leaves that have 

 fallen from the beech-trees and hedges are 

 blown along by the spring gales and cover 

 them, dead ferns droop over, and their 



