

GREA T IRISH DEERSTELLERS SEA- COW. 245 



in a brownish clay. This deposit also was the product of a time 

 when the climate was mild. It is a true lake-sediment, with 

 seams of clay and fine sand, the latter having been brought down 

 by heavy rainfall from the hills, just as at the present day. 



Now, we have to consider how these Great Deer got buried in 

 this deposit. \ How did they get drowned ? They may have gone 

 into the lakes to escape from wolves, or possibly to escape from 

 ancient Britons (but that is still doubtful). Perhaps they went 

 into the water to wallow, as is usual with deer, or they may have 

 ventured to swim the lakes (see p. 19). To enter the lake from 

 a sandy shore would be easy enough, but, on reaching the other 

 side, they might find a soft mud instead, into which their small 

 feet would sink ; and the more they plunged and struggled, the 

 worse became their plight, until at last> weary and exhausted, the 

 heavy antlers pressed their heads down under the water, and 

 they were drowned. 



It does not follow, according to this theory, that either the 

 entire animal ought to be found, or even its legs, sticking in the 

 clay. For a few days it might remain so, but the motion of 

 the waters of the lake would sway the body to and fro, while the 

 gases due to decomposition would render it buoyant, and perhaps 

 raise it bodily off the bottom. Then it might float before the 

 wind, its head hanging down, till it reached the lee-side of the lake. 

 Then the antlers would gt fastened in mud near the shore, thus 

 mooring the body until at last so much of the flesh of the neck 

 had decayed that the body got separated from it, leaving the 

 head and antlers near the shore. 



Nearly a hundred heads had been found in this lake previous ^^ 

 to Mr. Williams's explorations, and yet scarcely six skeletons. / 

 At first it is somewhat puzzling to account for this scarcity of 

 skeletons compared with heads ; but very likely the bodies, minus 

 their heads, were carried right out of the lake, down a river, and 

 perhaps reached the sea or got stranded somewhere down the 

 river in such a way that the bones were never covered up. But 



