266 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



" The ollen is an animal which bears antlers." 

 Tersely that, and nothing more. The brief wisdom 

 vouchsafed no details of the antlers when borne, of 

 their relative size and marvel of symmetry, the 

 materials of which they are constructed, or anything 

 whatever of antler architecture. 



Just as the 20th of September is called in Gaelic 

 " The Day of the Roaring," so the loth of that month 

 is known among the natives of the Caucasus as " The 

 Time of the Calling," because it heralds the calling 

 season in the Kouban. Naturalists propose, animals 

 sometimes dispose. Very often the stags most pro- 

 vokingly postpone their warfare and love-makings 

 until a later date, even so far on in the month as Sep- 

 tember 25th, but if the weather is fine and open the time 

 of times in the deer world commences about the loth 

 and continues for a month or so, after which the 

 creatures calm down to mundanity and eat and sleep 

 and live peacefully once more. 



The bagging of my best ollen did not require any 

 great expenditure of finesse or effort. As luck would 

 have it I got the topping twelve-pointer as easily as 

 falling off a gate. Cecily worked like a navvy to 

 obtain her less splendid specimen, and, in spite of the 

 ease with which my prized trophy came to me, we 

 formed the opinion before very long that stalking in 

 the Kouban is a stiffish job and the hunter deserves 

 all and more than he gets. 



In this district the deer are to be sought for in the 

 wooded ridges, high and wind-swept, and the penetration 

 of these forested depths has drawbacks as well as in- 



