386 UNGULATA. 



as well as the British Isles, but none are found in the 

 Isles of Wight, Man, and Lundy, nor in the Channel 

 Islands, although, in the time of the Eoman occupation, 

 it was abundant in the first-named island. 



The stag is of a reddish-brown colour ; the legs are 

 dark brown ; the tail and buttocks are whitish, or very 

 light brown. The beautifully-formed head is pointed. 

 The eye is large, dark brown, and expressive, with a 

 lighter shade of colour round it. The under-jaw is also 

 light. In summer the head is often lighter. There is a 

 dark mark along the back. The hind is rather lighter, 

 and has a more pointed nose. The period of gestation 

 is about eight months, and the young is called a calf. 



The male sheds his horns every year about the month 

 of March, and in April the new horns begin to grow. 

 During this growth he eats largely. The new horns are 

 soft, being covered with a velvety substance, and are 

 full of blood-vessels. If the horns are injured at this 

 early stage the animal often bleeds to death. The 

 horns harden gradually, and in September the velvet 

 falls, or is rubbed off. 



The points of a stag's head increase year by year till 

 the animal is full-grown, which is at twelve years ; after 

 that age the horns decrease and grow thin. The heads 

 of wild stags are hardly so grand as in former times ; 

 in Fontainebleau, Exmoor, and in Scotland the heaviest 

 have seldom more than twelve to fourteen tines ; ten 

 tines is considered a good head. In captivity, and in 

 parks where Deer are well fed, heads of sixteen to 

 twenty points are not so uncommon. 



In Germany the heads are much finer, and at the 

 Castle of Moritzburg one is shown with eighty or ninety 

 tines ; also two pairs of horns interlocked when fighting, 

 the stags dying of hunger. 



