DESTRUCTION OF OLD STAGS. 233 



stags, who have been seen and known for a long series of 

 years in certain districts. Though these accounts are doubt- 

 less much exaggerated, it is tolerably certain that their life 

 extends to from twenty to thirty years. I do not imagine 

 that in these days stags have much chance of reaching that 

 term. At the age of seven or eight years, the animal having 

 arrived at full perfection as to size and beauty of antler, 

 they are marked down for destruction by the numerous 

 sportsmen who wage war against them in every part of the 

 north of the island. Their numbers in certain preserved 

 districts have, no doubt, increased to a great extent; but 

 very few of the tine, rugged, and far-stretching antlers, which 

 adorn the halls of many of the old houses in the Highlands, 

 are now to be met with on living deer. Where not brought 

 down by the licensed sportsman, a fine-headed stag has now 

 so high a premium offered on his life in the price given for 

 horns, that he is sure to fall by the gun of some poacher or 

 shepherd. I have known as large a sum as five guineas 

 given for a stag's head ; and when this is the case, nothing 

 else can be expected but that every stag whose horns are 

 peculiarly fine, will be killed. I have occasionally shot roe- 

 bucks, and still oftener does, showing by their size, colour, 

 length of hoofs, &c., that they had reached a tolerable old 

 age : but, like all persecuted animals, the chance of their 

 attaining their full extent of days is so slight as scarcely to 

 give us the means of ascertaining how long they would live 

 if secure from danger. 



Sheep after seven or eight years lose their teeth, more or 

 less, and show symptoms of their best days being past. But 

 these, like all other domesticated animals, do not afford a 

 good criterion to judge by, as they are all under an artificial 

 system as to food and manner of living, which makes them, 

 like man, subject to many diseases and causes of decay, which 

 would not affect them if they were in a state of nature. 



In populous countries such as Britain, it may fairly be 

 supposed that extremely few wild animals or birds reach 

 their full period of life. Although some kinds are carefully 

 preserved here and there, they are only preserved, like sheep 

 or fowls, to be the more conveniently killed when required ; 

 and where there is no restriction to shooting and destroying 

 the ferre naturae of the country, the extensive trade carried 

 on throughout the kingdom in all the shops where guns and 

 powder and shot are sold, proves what numbers must be. 



