38 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



shed their horns as late as May ; the old stags in 

 the beginning, and the young deer at the end of 

 that month. It is very rarely, however, that an old 

 stag is seen with his horns on after the beginning 

 of May, but a two-year-old deer will carry his horns 

 for a month or two later. Before the period arrives 

 when the stag is about to cast or shed his horns, he 

 retires to the deepest and thickest coverts, and 

 there remains secluded until his new horns begin to 

 sprout. He then leaves the tangled thickets and 

 seeks the open moors and heaths, or if these be 

 far distant from his usual haunts, he retreats to 

 timber woods and grown-up plantations. Instinct 

 teaches him to do this, as the extreme sensitiveness 

 and tenderness of the velvet-covered substance 

 destined to grow into a branching antler are such, 

 that he cannot endure the touch of the coppice 

 wood or furze brake in which he has hidden himself, 

 as if for very shame, since his former coronet 

 dropped from his brow. So vascular and delicate 

 is the velvet, that the slightest abrasion is followed 

 by blood ; and the scar resulting from an injury 

 during the infancy of the horn, may frequently be 

 discovered on the hard substance when the ' head ' 

 has come to maturity. The life which the animals 

 lead during this period is by no means enviable. 



