96 STALKS ABROAD 



interesting herd of red deer is found in the South 

 Island in Northern Otago. The two stags and five 

 hinds presented to the Otago Acclimatisation Society 

 by the Earl of Dalhousie in 1870, were liberated on 

 the Morven hills, and their descendants are the only 

 deer in New Zealand who can claim pure Scottish 

 descent. Their present numbers are estimated at 

 10,000. I was very fortunate in visiting New 

 Zealand when I did, as, at the Exhibition held 

 at Christchurch, were heads to the number of a 

 hundred, collected from all over the Colony. They 

 were extremely well arranged, and included some 

 magnificent specimens. One in particular attracted 

 universal admiration, and is, in my opinion, the finest 

 wild stag ever shot in New Zealand. This was Mr. 

 H. E. Hodgkinson's royal. The Exhibition did not 

 include the head of a 16 -pointer killed by a poacher 

 in the Dingle Valley near Lake Hawea, and sold for 

 7, 10s. to a local stalker, who in turn resold it to the 

 late A. R. Blackwood, a well-known Melbourne sports- 

 man. The horn of this stag was 42 inches in length, 

 which is the only measurement I have, though those 

 who have seen it say it is an even better head than 

 the royal mentioned above. It is hard for an enthu- 

 siast to speak in moderate terms of this grand head, 

 combining, as it does, long well-developed tines, 

 with great length, heavy beam, and unusual, indeed 

 record, spread ; no unworthy headpiece for even Land- 

 seer's " Monarch of the Glen." Only in one particular 

 should I like to see an alteration, and that is in the 



