I40 THE MASTER OF GAME 



they call traces beyond the sea. And that of the 

 stinking beasts that men call vermin, he shall call 

 them steps as I have said. And if he hath seen a 

 hart with his eyes, there are three kinds of hues 

 of them, that one is called brown, the other 

 yellow, and the third dun, and so he may call 

 them as he thinketh that they beareth all their 

 hues. And if men ask what head beareth the 

 hart he hath seen, he shall always answer by even 

 and not by odd, /or ifhe be forked on the right side, 

 and lack not of his rights ^ beneath, and on the 

 right 2 side antler and royal and surroyal and not 

 forked but only the beam, he shall say it is a hart 

 of ten at default^ for it is always called even of 

 the greater number. And every buck's tines 

 should be reckoned as soon as a man can hang a 

 baldric or a leash ^ thereupon and not otherwise. 

 And when a hart beareth as many tines on the 

 one side as on the other, he may say if he be but 

 forked that he is a hart of ten, and if he be troched 

 of three he is a hart of twelve, if he be troched of 

 four he is a hart of sixteen, always if it be seen 

 that he hath his rights beneath as before is said. 

 And if he lack any of his rights beneath he must 



^ Brow, bay, and tray tines. See Appendix : Antler. 



2 In Shirley MS. it is "left." 



^ Instead of this original passage G. de F. says : " For if he 

 had on one side ten points and on the other only one, it should 

 be called summed of twenty" (p. 135). 



* G. de F. has "spur" instead. 



