THE ISLAND OF HITTEREN 43 



all the shootings of the island. One of its advantages 

 was its proximity to the mainland, whence across a mile 

 of fjord came and went some of our largest stags for that 

 range from winter to summer feed that is so necessary 

 in order to maintain the quality and vigour of the stock. 

 We usually killed about a stag a day to the party. 

 In the autumn of 1895 our party of four rifles for a 

 fortnight, and the writer alone for another fortnight, 

 killed twenty-eight stags in twenty-seven days, partly 

 stalking and partly driving. Several of the stags 

 weighed over 20 stone, and one scaled no less than 

 386 pounds (27 stone 12 pounds) clean, as brought in 

 next day from the fjeld. His dimensions, which I 

 took at the time, were as follows : 



Height : From top of shoulder to 



centre of fore-hoof - 4 feet 3 inches. 



Girth : Behind shoulder - 4 feet 6 inches. 



Length : From centre of forehead 



(base of horns) along back to tip 



of tail - - 6 feet 4 inches. 



This is the heaviest stag I have known killed on the 

 island. Hitteren heads are somewhat irregular in 

 number of tines, being in this respect rather inferior 

 to Scotch heads. We have killed many twenty-stone 

 stags with heads of from seven to eleven points, and 

 in some cases with switch horns, such stags, as all 

 stalkers know, being often the heaviest beasts. 

 Twice only, in an experience extending over thirty 

 years, have I killed or seen killed a full Hitteren 

 royal, though I have been shown one or two fine 

 royal heads shot elsewhere on the island. On our 

 forest ten and eleven pointers have been fairly 

 common. In beam and roughness of horn Hitteren 

 heads are usually superior to Scotch. 



