128 STA G- HUNTING ON EX MO OR. 



twice as many cutting teeth in the lower jaw as they 

 number years. Eight is the full number of these 

 teeth ; but at five years old (so says Dr. Collyns, 

 though many think earlier) two tusks in the upper jaw 

 are added in the case of stags ; and these tusks are 

 sometimes found in old hinds, but smaller and less 

 developed. Thus a stag by the time he is fit to 

 hunt is past mark of mouth ; but the state of the teeth 

 often decides in doubtful cases between the old and 

 young deer. The slot or fore foot and the body are 

 signs which are of no use further than to decide 

 whether a deer be fit or not to run, and will there- 

 fore be better discussed when we come to speak of 

 stag-hunting. As a rule, the older the stag the 

 bigger are both slot and body ; but it is certain that 

 deer as well as human creatures are liable to shrink 

 with extreme old age. Mr. Bisset records the death 

 of a very old hind whereof the frame was very small 

 and the slots worn down to nothing ; and recently a 

 very old stag has been killed with a deformed head, 

 the body of a young deer, and the slot of a hind. 

 Altogether it may be said that a stag past his prime 

 tends to return in outward appearance to that which 

 he was before his prime. The colour is apt to become 

 lighter, the horn scantier, and the slot (in rare cases) 



