122 STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



longing to a deer of doubtful age) with wide spread 

 long tines and eleven points, but smooth as if made 

 of wood. 



Thirdly. The top of an old stag's horn is sometimes 

 blunt, as if decayed; there is sometimes a knob 

 instead of points, either solid or hollow ; or the top is 

 jagged and irregular, with or without a number of 

 little spikes, counted by some as points, but unworthy 

 of the name. There is at Moritzburg the head of a 

 very old stag with fifty-seven such little spikes on the 

 top of his horns ; the head has the appearance of a 

 fallow buck's with a hedgehog on top, and is a most 

 unsightly object. This last bunch of distinctions is in 

 great measure trustworthy. A knob has been found 

 on the head of a deer certainly not past his prime ; 

 but bluntness and jaggedness surely mark an old 

 deer, or at very least a deer made prematurely old by 

 sickness or injury. Old age brings with it enfeebled 

 circulation. In cases where there is a question be- 

 tween age and injury, it may generally be solved by 

 the general condition of the deer; for a fine head 

 does not necessarily imply a big body, nor vice versa. 



The deformities and eccentricities in deer's heads 

 are simply endless. Those curious on the subject 

 would do well to visit the hunting castle of the kings 



