22 THE RED DEER. 



may move about in consort with a younger stag, 

 or with a favourite hind with whom he has pre- 

 viously mated, finding his companion's alertness 

 conducive to the rest and quietude he craves, as it 

 saves him the trouble of watching. He is painfully 

 conscious of the soreness of his head, and generally 

 avoids the society of his fellows. He realises that 

 any young stag which he perchance punished during 

 the rutting season may now be in a position to 

 make things very uncomfortable for him ; and if 

 a small dispute has to be settled, he uses only his 

 forehoofs and perhaps his teeth, the latter being 

 brought into play in much the same manner as a 

 horse uses them. 



All spring the red deer devotes to the growing 

 of new antlers and the laying on of fat. When 

 first they come the horns are covered with soft, 

 steel-gray velvet. They are charged with blood 

 and nerves, and are very sensitive to injury. If 

 held in the hand they are found to be hot, and 

 must at this stage be a source of continual 

 anxiety to their wearer. I have handled the 

 budding antlers of a tame elk, and the animal 

 seemed to enjoy having them gently rubbed. A 

 keen frost during the time that the new antlers 

 are growing must cause the animal extreme dis- 

 comfiture, for they are so sensitive that the elk 

 referred to used to shake his head in an irritated 

 manner if the beam of his horns was quite lightly 

 tapped with the finger-nail. 



Later in the season the blood recedes, as the sap 

 recedes to the roots of a tree in autumn. The out- 

 side velvet dries, peels, and for a time hangs from 

 the now fully developed antlers in untidy ribbons. 

 The animal cleans them by constant rubbing 

 against branches, bushes, the end of a broken rail, 



