180 STALKS ABROAD 



but that is no reason why they should rest on their 

 laurels. One gentleman, replying to my letter, was 

 kind enough to inform me that I didn't know what I 

 was talking about ; that it was impossible to tell 

 a hind five years old from one of twenty ; (this has a 

 certain amount of truth in it, but any stalker can tell 

 a rotten, weedy, old beast from a young hind, suitable 

 for breeding purposes ;) that all the malformed heads 

 to which I had alluded were the result of accidents. 

 He then drew a delightful picture of stags clambering 

 about among the rocks of North Otago, bruising their 

 horns against every rock and tree they encountered. 

 If this gentleman possesses the knowledge of the habits 

 of deer he would fain have us believe, he would know 

 that a stag with growing horns is rather more careful 

 of them than an undergraduate with his first meer- 

 schaum pipe. If these heads are due to falls and 

 accidents, why is it that so few are seen in Scotland ? 

 Why, too, should malforms be common in accessible and 

 open country, whilst the rough country at the head of 

 the Hunter Valley is comparatively free from them ? 

 The majority of forests in Scotland are not, I admit, 

 anything like so rough as the ground in Otago, but 

 there are lots of places where a stag could manage 

 a nasty accident. Yet a malformed head in the North 

 is regarded as something of a rarity. 



One paper came out in a most modest way with 

 the following paragraph : 



"Mr. Wallace's suggestion that all old hinds 

 should be shot out would naturally lead to the 



