RENEWAL OF HORNS. 29 



Duke of Atholl, indeed, once found a dead hind which had 

 been choked by a part of the horn, that remained sticking 

 in its throat. It is not, however, credible that all those 

 which are missing are disposed of in this way ; they rather 

 seem to be thus eaten from wantonness and caprice, and I 

 am not able to account satisfactorily for their disappearance. 



The new horns which deer acquire annually are covered 

 with a thick sort of leaden-coloured skin, which remains 

 on them till the deer are in good condition : it then begins 

 to fall off, and, for a short space, hangs in shreds, ragged 

 -and broken ; but they remove it as quickly as they can, by 

 raking their antlers in the roots of the heather, or in such 

 branches of shrubs as they can find adapted to the purpose. 

 When they have shaken off this skin, which is called the 

 velvet, and which disappears in the months of August and 

 September, they are said to have clean horns ; and, as these 

 deer are in the best condition, they are the particular object 

 of the sportsman. 



If a hart is cut vvhen a fawn, he will never have horns ; 

 and if he is cut when five or six years old, after his horns 

 have attained their full growth, he will never drop them ; 

 and, if he be cut when he has dropped them, they will 

 never be renewed. This is mentioned in Buffon, and has 

 been confirmed to me by Mr. John Crerer, who is a close 

 observer of nature, and has had sixty years' experience in 

 the forest of Atholl. But I once killed a very large fat 

 hart on the top of Ben Dairg, in the month of September, 

 which had not been cut, and still had no horns at all. 



I myself have often observed, that if a hart has one of 

 his horns ill grown, and inferior to the other, he will, upon 

 examination, be found to have a gun-shot, or some other 

 bad wound, on the side where the horn is faulty. 



Many horns of the Cervus Elaphus have been found in 

 peat bogs and shell marl; and, as these have the os frontis 

 attached to them, they could not have been cast in the 

 ordinary way; but must either have belonged to deer that 

 died of old age or disease, or to such as might have been 

 mired in endeavouring to land, where the bottom was soft 

 and quaggy. Many, probably, have perished in this way, 

 as the horns are generally found in an upright position. 



