iH STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



which differs from that of Lord Graves only in so far 

 that the latter assigns a brow antler to the two-year- 

 old, and, more careful than the doctor, declines to say 

 anything of the heads of stags over six years old, save 

 that *' they differ much in appearance." Either of 

 them will do well enough in default of a better ; but in 

 truth any attempt to fix the age of a deer by his horns 

 alone must of necessity fail, for the growth of the 

 horns depends on a great many more circumstances 

 than merely on his age. First and foremost, it is, the 

 writer ventures to think, indispensable to the perfec- 

 tion of a wild deer's head that the animal should live 

 in a wooded country. The deer is a beast of the 

 forest — a denizen of woods, not of open plains ; and 

 the advantages that the Exmoor deer enjoy in this 

 respect over those in many parts of Scotland sufficiently 

 account for the superiority of their heads over those of 

 the majority of Scotch deer. Next, the time of a 

 deer's birth, the accident whether he be a late or 

 early calf, and the chance whether the hind that bears 

 him be a good mother or not, have in the opinion of 

 good judges much to do with the later development of 

 the deer, and consequently of his head. The quality 

 of a deer's food, and his immunity from injury or dis- 

 turbance, have also a considerable influence in pro- 



