78 RED DEER. 



Iii October again, as the stag-hunting 



S3 ' o c 



ceases, the horns are employed in fighting, 

 the stags then combating for their ladyloves. 

 The life of a stag is indeed so bound up with 

 the growth and condition of his antlers that 

 it may be said to begin and end with them. 

 Before they are high enough to be dignified 

 as horns the young male deer runs with the 

 hinds and herds with them. There is little 

 difference in their appearance, and it some- 

 times happens in the hind-hunting season 

 that a young male deer is chased for some 

 time till the mistake is discovered. The 

 outline of the face is broader and shorter — 

 a hind's face looks longer — and by this the 

 heads may be distinguished. As he grows 

 older, and the antlers each season become 

 larger, the deer leaves the hinds and joins 

 the stags, feeding- and harbouring in com- 

 pany with one of them. At last a full-grown 

 stag he is in his turn master, and has a com- 

 panion, as it were, to fag for him. In his 

 old age the antlers each year diminish in 



