144 RED DEER. 



and may be chased if no other is to be 

 found, but the proper age is five. At four 

 years a male deer bears brow, tray, and two 

 on top (without bay, and therefore not with 

 full ' rights ') ; sometimes only brow, and 

 tray, and two on top one side, and upright 

 the other ; upright indicates that the antler 

 terminates in one point at the top. These 

 points they sometimes carry at three years, 

 but at three are only reckoned to bear brow, 

 tray, and uprights both sides. 



In writing these differences appear minute, 

 but in reality they are marked, and those 

 who have had practice have not the least 

 difficulty in distinguishing the various con- 

 ditions of the antlers, and deducing from 

 these the age of the deer. 



Such are the points and definition of a 

 warrantable stag as understood at the present 

 day on Exmoor. They do not quite corre- 

 spond in every particular with the statements 

 in ancient books of venery or hunting as to 

 the signs of a runnable deer, and the gradual 



