ANTLER AND FERN. 87 



smiths, who speak of raising a "burr" on a 

 rivet by hammering it the " burr " is the 

 bulging caused by the blows. Above the 

 " burr " came the brow-antlier, now the 

 brow-point ; next the bez-antlier, now the 

 bay (bez doubtless was pronounced bay). 

 The third point, now called the tray French 

 tres, hunting terms are derived from Nor- 

 man-French was then the royal, and the 

 top-points or crown was the sur-royal-top. 

 The gutters were the seams or grooves in 

 the main stem or beam ; the pearls appear 

 to have been the little knobs about the 

 " burr." Sometimes the brow-point was 

 called simply the antlier, and the bay the 

 sur-antlier, and the top the croche. There 

 was a complete science of reckoning an 

 antlier ; the meaning of some of the terms 

 seems to have varied with the number of 

 points, and there were many other minutiae. 

 Those now in use on Exmoor are distinct 



