28 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



extends by means of the velvet (a plexus of blood 

 vessels) all over the external parts of the horn. It 

 is quite soft and highly vascular, so that the slightest 

 injury causes blood to flow freely, and the horn, when 

 this occurs, to be imperfectly developed." When the 

 antler has attained its full size all its points are still 

 soft, and one may sometimes see them bent where 

 they have met with any injury.. The last part of the 

 antler to develop is the burr or row of "pearls" 

 round its base. The development of these pearls 

 presses upon and constricts the arteries, thus cutting 

 off the supply of blood, and the velvet gradually 

 dries up and comes away, a process which the stag 

 hastens by rubbing against a tree — a specimen 

 young pine for choice, if there be such a thing handy 

 — to the no small detriment of the tree. The antler 

 is then pure white bone, a defect which the stag 

 quickly remedies by rolling in the first peat hole he 

 can find. In former days, when charcoal burning 

 was extensively carried on round Exmoor, the old 

 charcoal pits were favourite places for this purpose. 

 A stag's head can at any time be washed nearly 

 white with a sufficiency of soap, hot water, and a 

 scrubbing brush. The antler is generally full grown 

 about the end of July ; the points are usually hard 

 by about August 1 2th, when stag-hunting begins, and 

 the velvet comes away by about the end of the first 

 week in September ; but no hard or fast rule can be 

 laid down. In some seasons stags are forward in 

 condition, in others the reverse is the case. 



