30 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RED DEER 



in driving deer when only eleven years old. It is not 

 therefore surprising that he should be an enthusiast on 

 the subject of deerstalking. 



The Martindale herd, which forms the subject of 

 his charge, numbers about two hundred and fifty head 

 at the present time. Of these, about sixty or seventy 

 head are stags, the remainder being hinds and their 

 followers. Jackson tells me that the herd was never 

 more numerous in his time than prior to the severe 

 winter of 1893-94. He estimated the number of 

 animals then at about three hundred head ; but about 

 fifty succumbed to the hardships of that terrible winter. 



Mr. Hasell only shoots six or seven stags every 

 year. Of recent years one or two hinds have been 

 shot in winter, but this is a departure from the usage 

 of former days. The Martindale stags run up to about 

 twenty-two stone weight ; but a stag of eighteen or 

 nineteen stone is reckoned a fine animal. The weight 

 of stags is vastly different at the end of the rutting 

 season. A spent animal may not weigh more than 

 ten or eleven stone, though a few months earlier his 

 carcase would have pulled down seventeen or eigh- 

 teen stone. 



The young of the red deer is calved in early 

 summer, under ordinary circumstances. A few for- 

 ward hinds drop their offspring during the last days 



