DEER 279 



Miles considered that a stag who had had a good 

 mother would grow his horns earlier and stronger 

 than one who had perhaps lost his dam before he was 

 five months old ; this seems reasonable as regards 

 the first pair or two of horns, at any rate. I cannot 

 trace any satisfactory connection between the weather 

 and the development of the horns. Undoubtedly 

 the best heads are better in some years than in 

 others ; but it was remarked that they were generally 

 very fine in 1881, the season following one of the 

 heaviest snowfalls on record in the west of England. 



One-horned stags are not uncommon ; three were 

 killed on the Quantocks in 1895 '> one, a very old stag, 

 was supposed to be the father of the others. As far 

 as could be judged from the skulls, none of the 

 three had ever had more than one horn, the tap root 

 of the other being stunted and withered. A one- 

 horned stag is at no disadvantage in the rutting 

 season, so there is no inherent improbability in the 

 hereditary theory in this instance. A hind with 

 horns is the heroine of a great chase which took place 

 in France in the time of Charles IX. in the forest of 

 Amboise, and the Comte de Canteleu speaks as if 

 horned hinds were by no means unknown since : but 

 there is no tradition even of such prodigies in the 

 west. The well-being of the deer has no doubt been 



