126 STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



ness) and had had his horns sawn off just above the 

 brow antler, threw up after four years a fresh spire 

 about eight inches long from the stumps. Dr. Collyns 

 was inclined to think that the operation had been in- 

 completely performed, but most probably save for the 

 presence of the old stump this deer would have grown 

 new horns in less than four years. The really astonish- 

 ing thing is that he should have thrown up a new horn 

 on the top of the stump, that in fact the blood should 

 have forced its way up through the fully developed 

 horn in sufficient volume to produce a new growth on 

 the top of it. Unfortunately Dr. Collyns fails to men- 

 tion whether these short spires were ever shed or not, 

 or whether they ever lost the velvet. It is difficult to 

 understand why a certain mutilation should have pre- 

 vented a deer from shedding his old horns without 

 stopping the growth of new ones. 



There remains yet one eccentricity to be mentioned, 

 that, namely, of "nott" or hornless stags. Two of 

 these (the only ones on record in the West) were killed 

 in 1880. Both were perfect in all respects save that 

 they had no more horns than a yearling, and this too 

 though they were certainly warrantable deer, but not 

 apparently of any extraordinary age. There is said to 

 be another such deer somewhere in the Forest at the 



