2. r )8 



ANIMALS OF 



bottom while the upper part remains soft, 

 and still continues growing ; from whence it 

 appears that the horns grow differently in deer 

 from those of sheep or cows ; in which they 

 are always seen to increase from the bottom. 

 However, when the whole head has received 

 its full growth, the extremities then begin to 

 acquire their solidity; the velvet covering, 

 or bark, with its blood-vessels, dry up, and 

 then begin to fall ; and this the animal has- 

 tens, by rubbing its antlers against every tree 

 it meets. In this manner, the whole exter- 

 nal surface being stripped off by degrees, at 

 length the whole head acquires its complete 

 hardness, expansion, and beauty. 



It would be a vain task to inquire into the 

 cause of the animal production of these horns; 

 it is sufficient to observe, that if a stag be cas- 

 trated when its horns are fallen off, they will 

 never grow again ; and, on the contrary, if 

 the same operation is performed when they 

 are on, they will never fall off If only one 

 of his testicles are taken out, he will want the 

 horn on that side ; if one of the testicles only 

 be tied up, he will want the horn of the op- 

 posite side. The increase of their provision 

 also tends to facilitate the growth and the ex- 

 "pansion of the horns ; and Mr. Buffbn thinks 

 it possible to retard their growth entirely by 

 greatly retrenching their food. a As a proof 

 of this, nothing can be more obvious than the 

 difference between a stag bred in fertile pas- 

 tures and undisturbed by the hunter, and one 

 often pursued and ill-nourished. The for- 

 mer has his head expanded, his antlers nu- 

 merous, and the branches thick ; the latter 

 has but few antlers, the traces of the blood- 

 vessels upon them are but slight, and the ex- 

 pansion but little. The beauty and size of 

 their horns, therefore, mark their strength and 

 their vigour ; such of them as are sickly, or 

 have been wounded, never shooting out that 

 magnificent profusion so much admired in this 

 animal. Thus the horns may, in every re- 

 spect, be resembled to a vegetable substance, 

 grafted upon the head of an animal. Like a 

 vegetable they grow from the extremities; 

 like a vegetable they are for a while covered 

 with a bark that nourishes them ; like a ve- 



a Buffon, vol. xi. p. 113. 



b Mr. Buflbn has supposed something like this. Vide 

 passim. 



getable they have their annual production 

 and decay ; and a strong imagination might 

 suppose that the leafy productions on which 

 the animal feeds, go once more to vegetate in 

 his horns. b 



The stag is usually a twelvemonth old be- 

 fore the horns begin to appear, and then a sin- 

 gle branch is all that is seen for the year en- 

 suing. About the beginning of spring, all of 

 this kind are seen to shed thoir horns, which fall 

 off of themselves ; though sometimes the ani- 

 mal assists the efforts of nature, by rubbing 

 them against a tree. It seldom happens that 

 the branches on both sides fall off at the same 

 time, there often being two or three days be- 

 tween the dropping of the one and the other. 

 The old stags usually shed their horns first ; 

 which generally happens towards the latter 

 end of February, or the beginning of March. 

 Those of the second head, (namely, sucli as 

 are between five and six years old,) shed their 

 horns about the middle or latter end of March ; 

 those still younger, in the month of April ; and 

 the youngest of all, not till the middle, or the 

 latter end of May ; they generally shed them 

 in pools of water, whither they retire from the 

 heat ; and this has given rise to the opinion of 

 their always hiding their horns. These rules, 

 though true in general, are yet subject to many 

 variations ; and universally it is known that a 

 severe winter retards the shedding of the horns. 

 The horns of the stag generally increase in 

 thickness and in height from the second year 

 of its age to the eighth. In this state of perfec- 

 tion they continue during the vigour of life ; 

 but as the animal grows old the horns feel the 

 impressions of age, and shrink like the rest of 

 the body. No branch bears more than twenty 

 or twenty-two antlers even in the highest state 

 of vigour; and the number is subject to great 

 variety ; for it happens that the stag at one 

 year has either less or more than the year pre- 

 ceding, in proportion to the goodness of his 

 pasture, or the continuance of his security, as 

 these animals seldom thrive when often roused 

 by the hunters. The horns are also found to 

 partake of the nature of the soil ; in the more 

 fertile pastures they are large and tender ; on 

 the contrary, in the barren soil, they are hard, 

 stunted, and brittle. As soon as the stags 

 have shed their horns, they separate from each 

 other, and seek the plainer parts of the country, 

 remote from every other animal, which they 



