CERVUS ELAPHUS. 



THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS. 



CERVUS. Incisors eight in the lower jaw. Canines none or 

 sometimes solitary in the upper jaw ; when they exist, com- 

 pressed and bent back. Head long, terminated by a muzzle. 

 Eyes large, pupils elongated transversely. A lachrymal sinus in 

 most. Ears large and pointed. Tongue soft. Body slender. 

 Four inguinal mamma. Horns solid, deciduous, palmated, 

 branched or simple in the males; females, with one exception, 

 without horns. 



THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



CERVUS ELAPHUS. Horns when tender covered with a vel- 

 vety coat and growing at the apex. Antlers three, anterior, 

 all curved upwards, the summit forming a crown of snags 

 from a common centre. Lachrymal sinuses. Fur red-brown 

 in summer, brown-gray in winter. A pale disc on the but- 

 tocks. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



Both the Hart and the Hind, the male and female stag, are 

 repeatedly mentioned in the Bible (Deut. xiv. 5 ; Psalm xviii. 

 33). The stag is also noticed by Hippocrates, Aristotle, 

 Pliny, and other ancient writers. 



CERVUS, the stag, of which there are three known varieties, 

 is a native of almost every part of America and Asia. In 

 Britain its numbers have been much reduced by the prog- 

 ress of civilization, but it is still found wild in the highlands 

 of Scotland, the moors bordering on Devonshire and Corn- 

 wall, and on the Kerry mountains in Ireland. Among the 

 various animals which embellish the forests and animate the 

 solitudes of nature, none are superior to the cervine race. 

 These well-known ruminants are distinguished from the an- 

 telopes by their horns, which are composed of a bony sub- 

 stance, caducous, or falling off annually, and again renewed 

 of a larger size than in the preceding year. The easy ele- 

 gance of their form, the lightness of their motions, their size, 

 their strength, their fleetness, and the extraordinary develop- 

 ment of those branching horns, which seem fully as much in- 

 tended for ornament as defence, all contribute towards pla- 

 cing them in the foremost rank of quadrupeds. 



The stag is an animal of a stately, elegant form. When full- 



2 



