28 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



his sixteenth year he had already lost one tooth and 

 was rather lean. Little appears to be known about 

 the longevity of hinds, but as apparently they are quite 



m 



as hardy as stags, do not fight, grow no horns, and do not 

 run down very low in condition every season, there is a 

 possibility that they are naturally longer lived than 

 stags, and also they are not often picked up dead or 

 killed with missing teeth.* It is possible that wood 

 stags maintain their prime longer than those living on 

 the open hills ; certain it is that they come to maturity 

 more speedily, and a remarkable instance of this rapid 

 growth of a wood stag happened in Jura. A calf stag 

 having lost its mother, strayed on to the Ardfin 

 enclosures and pastured amongst the crops on the farm, 

 and became well known to all about the place. On 

 the 30th August, 1872, when he was eight years 

 old, he was shot by mistake in a mist and then 

 weighed perfectly clean 26 stone 4 lbs. ; his head 

 was what could be called a good head, but nothing 



* It will be seen later on that two cases are mentioned in 

 the mainland forests of hinds having lost their teeth. 



