340 ANIMALS OF THE 



come to some precision upon that head. If we 

 were to judge of its size by the horns which are 

 sometimes fortuitously dug up in many parts of 

 Ireland, we should not be much amiss in ascrib- 

 ing them to an animal at least ten feet high. One 

 of these I have seen, which was ten feet nine 

 inches from one tip to the other. From such di- 

 mensions, it is easy to perceive that it required 

 an animal far beyond the size of a horse to sup- 

 port them. To bear a head with such extensive 

 and heavy antlers, required no small degree of 

 strength ; and without all doubt, the bulk of the 

 body must have been proportionable to the size 

 of the horns. I remember some years ago to have 

 seen a small moose-deer, which was brought from 

 America by a gentleman of Ireland ; it was about 

 the size of a horse, and the horns were very little 

 larger than those of a common stag : this, there- 

 fore, serves to prove that the horns bear an exact 

 proportion to the animal's size. The small elk 

 has but small horns ; whereas chose enormous 

 ones which we have described above, must have 

 belonged to a proportionable creature. In all the 

 more noble animals, nature observes a perfect 

 symmetry ; and it is not to be supposed that she 

 fails in this single instance. We have no reason, 

 therefore, to doubt the accounts of Jocelyn and 

 Dudley, who affirm that they have been found 

 fourteen spans, which, at nine inches to a span, 

 makes the animal almost eleven feet high. Others 

 have extended their accounts to twelve and four- 

 teen feet, which makes this creature one of the 

 most formidable of the forest. 



