On Collecting Heads 77 



I have seen shed stag's horns mounted on a hind's head ! It is 

 interesting when comparing cast horns shed by the same stag from 

 year to year to notice how they resemble each other in their curves; it 

 is the original horn built on to each year. The shape may some- 

 times be modified by an injury during growth in a certain year, but 

 if there has not been an injury to the coronet, the next year the 

 horn goes back to its original type. 



Although the horns drop each year, they ahvays look just as if 

 they were planned permanently, but had each year received additions 

 or modifications ; stags' horns always keep up a resemblance from 

 year to year to their original type, just as a tree does. 



In looking over a heap of shed horns, one can generally say 

 of a particular specimen, " This must be stag so-and-so," simply by 

 the general look of it ; and one can also detect its fellow-horn, 

 even if it has more or less points than the one in hand, by its 

 general characteristics, and often by its colour. 



It is a mistake for a taxidermist to colour a stag's horns with peat, 

 when mounting it, if that stag came from a place where there are no 

 peat-bogs. 



A series of casts of fine heads can be bought of Hodeck Briider, 

 Vienna. 



