ON PLAIN AND PEAK 



"set back." The roebuck sheds his horns in the 

 early part of November, and they are fully grown 

 and clear of velvet again by the beginning or middle 

 of the following May. 



No other species of deer exhibits such irregu- 

 larities, abnormities, and monstrosities with regard 

 to its horns as does the roebuck. Malformed horns 

 are by no means uncommon ; and one occasionally 

 comes across a roebuck with more than three points 

 on the horn. On a certain Bohemian estate, that I 

 know well, there was, in one revier or " beat," a 

 celebrated buck that was said to have seven points 

 on one horn and five on the other. Unless he has 

 died a natural death, he is still there, for no one was 

 ever able to get a shot at him. Personally, I have 

 never even seen him. 



Perhaps the most extraordinary malformation 

 peculiar to the horns of the roebuck is the so-called 

 peruque horn. This, which almost resembles a wig 

 in appearance, is formed of a number of clusters of 

 horn-growth (which when exposed, as in the illustra- 

 tion, is found to be very like a honeycomb), covered 

 with velvet. In certain cases this growth spreads 

 to a very great extent, even, in some rare instances, 

 covering the eyes. Peruque horns are never shed. 

 The cause of this curious monstrosity may be gene- 

 rally traced to some former injury to the animal. 



The size of roebuck's horns varies with the nature 



48 



