42 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



each side a " Royal." How this arose is not clear ; 

 the name in that connection is utterly unknown in 

 any of the old books on stag-hunting. Manwood 

 lays down as follows : " If a stag come to be six 

 years of age, then he is a hart. But if a King or 

 Queen do hunt, or chase him, and he escape away 

 alive, then after such hunting or chasing, he is called 

 a hart royal." This learned author goes on to 

 describe how if a King hunted a stag out of the 

 forest and was unable to take him there after a good 

 run he made proclamation for him to be left in peace 

 to return to the forest, when he was known as a 

 " Hart Royal Proclaimed." 



In quite recent years a few South-country tenants 

 of forests have taken to talking of a stag carrying 

 four on top on each side as an " Imperial," but this 

 is nothing but an ignorant absurdity. 



The term " Royal " has always been entirely 

 unknown on Exmoor. 



While one may justifiably maintain that the heads 

 of the present Exmoor herd are as good, on an 

 average, as those of any part of the kingdom in 

 modern times, it cannot be denied that the herds 

 which roamed over this country in prehistoric days 

 were more amply furnished. Antlers, and portions 

 of antlers, of a size larger than any we see now are 

 recovered from among the roots of the trees in the 

 submerged forest in Porlock Bay, and also from the 

 sands in Morecambe Bay, whither they were prob- 

 ably driven by wolves from their home in the Fells, 



