BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 59 



neither cast the Horns which they had before, nor do any 

 new ones grow. When they first break out again, they are 

 like renewed Kernels of dry Skin ; then they grow with 

 tender Stalks into reed-like round Excrescences, feathered 

 all over with soft Down. So long as they are destitute of 

 Horns they go out to seek Food by Night ; the Horns grow 

 hard by the increasing Heat of the Sun ; and then they 

 occasionally try them against Trees ; and when they are 

 satisfied that they are strong, they go abroad boldly. It 

 has happened that some of them have been taken with green 

 Ivy on their Horns, inbred there since the Time when they 

 employed them in their tender State against some Trees. 

 Sometimes they are of a shining white Colour, such as was 

 the Hind which Q. Serforius 1 was reported to have had, 

 and which he persuaded the People of Spain to believe to 

 be his Soothsayer. This kind of Deer maintain a Fight with 

 Serpents : they will track them to their Holes, and by the 

 Strength of the Breath of their Nostrils force them out : and 

 therefore there is nothing so good to drive away Serpents 

 as the Smell of burnt Hartshorn. But against their Bite 

 there is an excellent Remedy from the Runnet in the Maw 

 of a Fawn killed in the Dam's Belly. It is generally ac- 

 knowledged that Stags live long ; for an hundred Years after 

 Alexander the Great, some were taken with golden Collars 

 that had been affixed to them by that Prince, but then over- 

 grown by the Skin through great Stoutness. This Creature 

 is not subject to feverish Diseases, but he is effectual to cure 

 it. I have known great Ladies accustomed to the Use every 

 Morning of eating this Venison, and thereby to have lived to 

 a great Age without having Fevers ; but it is thought an 

 established Remedy in the highest Degree if the Stag be 

 struck dead with one Wound only. 



1 See Plutarch's Life of Sertorius. Went. Club. 



