302 ANIMALS OF THE 



among the first of quadrupeds, among the most 

 noted objects of human curiosity. 



The Stag, or Hart, whose female is called a 

 hind, and the young a calf, differs in size and in 

 horns from a fallow-deer. He is much larger, 

 and his horns are round, whereas in the fallow 

 kind they are broad and palmated. By these the 

 animal's age is known. The first year the stag 

 has no horns, but a horny excrescence, which is 

 short, rough, and covered with a thin hairy skin. 

 The next year the horns are single and straight ; 

 the third year they have two antlers, three the 

 fourth, four the fifth, and five the sixth ; this 

 number is not always certain, for sometimes there 

 are more, and often less. When arrived at the 

 sixth year, the antlers do not always increase ; 

 and although the number may amount to six or 

 seven on each side, yet the animal's age is then 

 estimated rather from the size of the antlers, and 

 the thickness of the branch which sustains them, 

 than from their variety. 



These horns, large as they seem, are notwith- 

 standing shed every year, and new ones come in 

 their place. The old horns are of a firm solid 

 texture, and usually employed in making handles 

 for knives and other domestic utensils. But while 

 young nothing can be more soft or tender ; and 

 the animal, as if conscious of his own imbecility 

 at those times, instantly upon shedding his former 

 horns retires from the rest of his fellows, and 

 hides himself in solitudes and thickets, never ven- 

 turing out to pasture except by night. During 

 this time, which most usually happens in the 

 spring, the new horns are very painful, and have 



