EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 335 



Although the stags were never driven from the forest by hunting they 

 went out before the cutting of timber, which left them no rest, and 

 obstructed and marred their haunts and pastures. By degrees the hinds, 

 calves and younger stags, ceased to return at winter, and at last the old 

 harts were diminished to two. These, however, kept the forest till 1830. 



In the reduction of the numbers and of the range of the 

 Red Deer, we see the first signs of the decadence of its race 

 in Scotland, and the destruction of the forest had much to 

 do with the appearance of the signs. 



Fig'. 57. Antlers and portion of Skull of prehistoric Red Deer, unearthed in 

 the Meadows, Edinburgh. T V nat. size. 



What of the remaining criteria of decadence ? True, the 

 Scottish Red Deer has not reached the last step in the 

 downward course, but would it not have been exterminated 

 save for artificial fostering and protection by man ? Prob- 

 ably it would. In any case, has it not fallen a long stage, 

 physically, from its first fine presence in the days before 

 history began ? 



The testimony of the marl-mosses and peat-bogs is 

 unanimous as to the great size of the Red Deer of past days 

 and the enormous development of their antlers. The chances 

 are all against the discovery of the best heads by man during 



