CH. III.] DO DEER EAT THEIR SHED-HORNS? 179 



farmer, twelve or fourteen in number, (sometimes 

 accompanied by the bull), at first busily engaged 

 in searching for these, and afterwards each oc- 

 cupied for a couple of hours in quietly mumbling 

 her bone. Occasionally one would succeed, after 

 some time, in reducing hers sufficiently to enable 

 her to swallow it, when down it slipped, and she 

 immediately set about looking for another, or, if 

 she could not find one, endeavouring to filch that 

 of a more fortunate neighbour. Bones were evi- 

 dently the peculiar objects of their search, but, if 

 bones ran short, they would make shift with 

 lobster-shells, or even, as I remember seeing on 

 one occasion, the sole of an old shoe. 



These cows had plenty of pasture, and were 

 in good condition. Whether they really relished 

 the bones for their flavour, or were merely actu- 

 ated by an instinctive impulse, such as induces 

 dogs to eat grass, or birds gravel, for the purpose 

 of aiding digestion, I will not pretend to deter- 

 mine : any way, whatever may have been the in- 

 ducement, they evidently derived very consider- 

 able gratification from the act of mumbling 

 them. 



It has been supposed by some people, as a 

 means of accounting for the mysterious disappear- 



N2 



