20 THE RED DEER. 



pletely consume all the antlers that are shed. It 

 may be that they gnaw off most of the upstanding 

 points, so that the antler lies flat on the ground, 

 and thus escapes detection ; for in localities where 

 the water is short of bone-making elements, hinds 

 and stags will unite to gnaw persistently at any 

 antler found lying about. 



Seton comments on the similarly mysterious 

 disappearance of the antlers of the elk in Montana. 

 He says : * ' What becomes of these wonderful 

 growths ? Why is not the forest littered with 

 them, since they are dropped and renewed each 

 year? 



' Firstly, the forest is littered with them to some 

 extent in districts where the Elk abound. In 

 several parts in the West I have seen small garden 

 fences made of the cast-off antlers, and I am told 

 that in California it was common to see a rotten 

 survey stake replaced by a pile of elk-horns, which 

 were the handiest and most abundant substitute. 

 But still their numbers are nothing compared with 

 what one might expect. If they were as durable 

 as stone, they would be as plentiful as stones in an 

 ordinary Montana valley. The explanation is that 

 they are easily destroyed by the elements, and are 

 habitually preyed on by mice and other rodents. 

 In all the thousands of shed elk-horns that I have 

 picked up or seen in the West, I do not think I 

 ever saw one that was not more or less gnawed by 

 Mice, Rats, Gophers, or Porcupines.' He adds 

 that, as Caton long ago showed, ' while bone is 

 one-third animal matter or gelatine, the antler 

 substance is about thirty-nine parts animal matter 

 and sixty-one parts earthy matter of the same 

 kind and proportions as is found in common bone ; 



* Life Histories of Northern Animals. 



