CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 43 



then they discover themselves, going unto the trees 

 to fray their heades, and rub of the velvet' 



The ancients imagined that the horn of the stag 

 possessed great medicinal virtues, especially the 

 right, or off horn, which, it was said, was rarely 

 found, and consequently was the more highly prized. 

 To account for the scarcity of shed or cast horns, a 

 notion obtained currency that the hind is in the 

 habit of eating the horn ; and I think Mr Scrope 

 says, that the late Duke of Atholl once found a dead 

 hind, which had been choked by part of a horn that 

 remained sticking in her throat, and quotes this as a 

 circumstance corroborative of the popular belief I 

 may say that I have not found any mention of this 

 habit in the old works to which I have had access 

 and which I have consulted, although the ancient 

 writers on hunting were certainly men of great 

 observation, and by no means unwillino- to o-ive 

 credence to and report any peculiar habit or property 

 attributed to deer. During a short visit that I 

 recendy paid to Scotland, I made many enquiries on 

 this subject, and I was informed by keepers and hill- 

 men of great experience and undoubted veracity, 

 that it is a common occurrence for the hinds to eat 

 the cast horns ; and they go so far as to say, that 

 unless the horns are picked up within a short time 



