336 RECENT HUNTING TRIPS. 



at the shoulder, very heavily built, and in 

 splendid condition, the fat over his loins being 

 more than two inches thick. 



His horns measured fifty-one inches in length, 

 with an inside spread of forty-eight inches. 

 They were, too, very massive, being nearly seven 

 inches in circumference between the second 

 and third tines. They were still in the velvet, 

 but this was just ready to peel off, and I cleaned 

 the horns on the spot, finding them fully formed, 

 and sharp and hard at the points of all the tines. 



When I came up to the fallen stag, the calf, 

 which somewhat curiously had been his com- 

 panion, stood quietly looking at me from a 

 distance of less than one hundred yards ; and 

 all the time I was engaged in cutting off the 

 head, and disembowelling, and butchering the 

 carcase of its late companion, it never went 

 away, and often, when I looked up from my 

 work, I found it had approached to within 

 fifty yards of me. When I stood up and looked 

 round it trotted off a short distance, coming up 

 closer again when I was kneeling do^^^l beside 

 the carcase. 



