Antlers of 

 Red Deer. 



THE MAMMALS OF THE WOODS 



The antlers of red deer display much greater annual differences 

 than those of the roe. First of all the bases undergo a change; 

 the burrs becoming larger from year to year, and thereby approaching each other 

 in the middle of the forehead. In the same way as the space between the burrs, 

 the space between burr and skull diminishes. Still more striking is the change 

 in the shape of the antlers and the number of their points. Although the number 

 of the tines changes irregularly, there is a strict regularity in the development 

 of the beam; and it is, therefore, of more importance when determining a stags 

 age to examine the shape of the antlers than to count their points. 



A YOUNG KED DEER STAC, OR "BROCKET. 



The arrangement of the tines is more important than their number, only those 

 that grow immediately out of the principal beam of the antlers being essential ; 

 the branching of the tines is an unimportant variation from the regular plan. 

 The lowest of the regular tines, or " brow-tine," is at first some distance from 

 the burr, and rather high on the beam. In the course of time it approaches 

 the burr, until at last it becomes close to it; the position and direction changing 

 simultaneously. At first the brow-tine forms with the beam from which it rises 

 an acute angle, which widens every year, until it becomes a right angle, while 

 in a ten-pointer the angle is so large that it becomes obtuse. Similar variations 

 may be observed in the trez-tine, which in a normal six-pointer immediately 



