AT DAGGERS DRAWN 57 



certain peculiarities of its ears, during twenty-one years 

 produced twenty calves. She was killed at last with a 

 calf at her side, but was thin and haggard-looking. She 

 was, therefore, not less than six-and-twenty at her death. 

 The calves, it may be mentioned, are born in May and 

 June. 



Old stags shed their antlers, it is remarked, earlier than 

 young ones. And this is an advantage to the species, 

 since it prevents premature breeding on the part of 

 sexually precocious but immature males, and limits 

 competition to the adults. 



What obtains in the case of the Red-deer obtains also 

 with minor variations due to environment, climate, and 

 so on, in the case of all other deer. The life-history of the 

 Wapiti, as might be supposed, differs only in detail from 

 that of the Red-deer. But during the winter they form 

 vast herds, numbering thousands. It may be that in 

 primitive times the Red-deer was no less numerous. But 

 in this country, at any rate, conditions favourable to the 

 maximum development, either in bodily size, or in the 

 massiveness of the antlers, have long since passed away. 

 Even in the Highlands of Scotland the conditions of 

 existence have entirely changed owing to disafforestation. 

 Deer are essentially forest dwellers. But the " deer- 

 forests " are such only in name, and for the most part 

 the wild stags of to-day must get what shelter they can 

 from rocks and inequalities of the ground. From this 

 cause, and from the very natural desire of the owners 

 of such " forests " to secure the finest heads in each year, 

 the whole race has deteriorated. How great a change has 

 come over it may be seen by comparing the heads of 

 British Stags with those from German forests, where the 

 conditions of existence are more favourable. If we turn 



