THE STAG. 115 



footstep as distinctly as a humid breath that passes 

 over a burnished mirror. 



A stag bites the grass " clean off : " a hind pulls and 

 breaks it. You may, by this sign, be enabled to trace 

 the presence of either animal on the pasture. 



Although up to a certain age the size of the slot*, as 

 well as the length of step, will enable you to determine 

 how many points the stag may carry on his head, yet 

 beyond this neither step nor other sign affords any crite- 

 rion to judge by. For a stag of twenty-four is not 

 twice as large as one of twelve ; and though he puts 

 forth so many points, thus adding to the magnificence 

 of his presence, his body does not increase in size. 

 When you see such a deeply marked slot full three 

 fingers broad, you say, that stag has certainly oiot less 

 than 14 or 16 points; and you are right in your 

 assertion. His size and measurement entitle him to 

 this ; and though this is the least you give him, he still 

 may have double that number in his crown. 



As there are exceptions to every rule, you sometimes 

 may see a stag with perhaps but eight or ten points, 

 when his broad foot-marks and his long step gave you 

 every reason to expect he would have a forest of 

 branches on his head. It is an old saying that what 



* In the slot of a stag of fourteen you may lay three fingers ; but if 

 lie had twenty points on his head the footstep might, perhaps, not be 

 broader. 



