92 STALKS ABROAD 



The characteristics of the Wairarapa heads as 

 distinguished from those in Otago are heavier beam 

 and a larger number of points, in fact they resemble 

 English park deer, or German heads. 



The Otago stags, on the other hand, have as a 

 rule greater length of horn and finer span. Now 

 Mr. Hardcastle, like Mr. Oliver, maintains that this 

 is due to "adherence to type." He argues that a 

 Wairarapa stag transferred to Otago, or vice versd 

 an Otago stag put down in the Wairarapa, would 

 maintain each its own type of head. In other 

 words, that heredity is the only thing that counts 

 in settling the formation of a stag's antlers. 



I am compelled to entirely disagree. The effect 

 of climate and food on the growth of a stag's horns 

 is well seen in Mr. Lucas's herd of red deer at 

 Warnham. I see no reason why a similar change 

 should not have taken place in the Windsor deer 

 imported to the Wairarapa. The ground there is 

 covered with bush, and its limestone formation 

 would lead a naturalist to forecast that the type 

 of head grown by the stags there would be exactly 

 what it is. 



Three of the Wairarapa heads in the Christ- 

 church Exhibition had those bifurcations emanating 

 from the back of the main beam on one horn which 

 Mr. J. G. Millais has alluded to as being so charac- 

 teristic of certain park deer and for which high feed 

 is responsible. In Northern Otago, on the other hand, 

 the country is more or less wild and open, and the 



