40 HUNTING. 



and two points of each horn ; while at eight years old he will 

 be 'a stag of twelve.' 



Dr. Palk Collyns, in his excellent work on ' Stag Hunting on 

 the Exmoors,' states that he has seen as many as seven points 

 on the top of a very old stag's horn ; and that an old stag, long 

 known as the Badgeworthy Deer, had seven on the top of one 

 horn, and six on the other, when killed on September 8, 1786. 

 He would be called a stag of nineteen points. This intelligent 

 observer gives as his opinion that after a stag has passed his 

 prime, the horns decrease in size and form until the horn 

 deteriorates, and nothing but an upright or single spire, like 

 that appearing in the three-year-old deer, is visible. 



Before leaving the subject of the horns, it may be well to 

 make a passing allusion to the marvellous and almost incre- 

 dible powers of reproduction of horn with which deer are en- 

 dowed. They shed their horns annually in the spring seldom 

 after May. When the period of shedding approaches, they 

 leave the open, and remain in the covers until the formation of 

 new horn begins. In about sixteen weeks the magnificent pair 

 of horns (weighing about fourteen pounds) will be replaced. 



As may be readily imagined, during the growth of the horn 

 excessive pain, accompanied by bleeding, would be caused by 

 a blow from a branch of a tree, or other hard substance ; and 

 consequently deer will, at this time, avoid coppice and thicket 

 and confine themselves to woods or plantations which present 

 fewer objects of danger. That this period is one of pain and 

 suffering to the stag is very evident, for in addition to the 

 occasional blow he can hardly avoid, flies keep him in a state 

 of continual torment. 



The famous Dr. Bell thus describes the process of renew- 

 ing the horn : 



' The growth of the horn is an astonishing, instance of the 

 rapidity of production of bone under particular circumstances, 

 and unparalleled in its extent in so short a period. During its 

 growth the branches of the external carotid arteries, which 

 lend their assistance in the formation, are considerably enlarged 



