328 



BRITISH MAMMALS 



present day. The extreme British measurement (which is 

 perhaps 421 in.) of the length of red deer's antlers is exceeded 

 sometimes in Germany and Austria. The greatest length of any 

 known German head is 47-^- in. Mr. Millais is of opinion, in 

 his classic work on British Deer and their Horns, that there has 

 been a gradual degeneration in antlers amongst British deer. At 



EXAMPLE OF WELL-DEVELOPED ANTLERS IN STAG OF 12 OR 13 YEARS OLD. 



the present day those which are reputed to be first-class heads 

 seldom measure more than 34 in. in length. Another point in 

 which British stags evince degeneration is the increasing tendency, 

 especially amongst those that are allowed to breed in and in, to 

 slenderness of antler, in contradistinction to thickness and 

 palmation. Many of the modern antlers are slim and quite 

 rounded in beam, and the tines are short, and often tend to 



