CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



31 



killed on the 8th of September, in the year 1786. 

 It occasionally happens, too, that after a stag has 

 passed his prime, and is becoming stricken in years, 

 the horns, which formed the beauty of his majesty, 

 decrease in size and form, until the horn gradually 

 deteriorates, and nothing but an upright or single 

 spire, like that appearing in the three-year-old deer, 



Head of an Old Slag. 



shows itself. The deer is then called a ' bater ' or 

 'backer' A hart that is past his sixth year was 

 in ancient times, and is now, from the number of 

 his points and rights, generally called a stag of ten. 



' It was a stag, a stag of ten, 

 Bearing his branches sturdily.' 



