NOTES ON THE RED-DEEiR. BY G. P. HUGHES 83 



bone. At the same time osseous tubercles, of ivory hardness, 

 appear at the base of the stem. These coalesce by degrees, 

 enclosing within their folds the great superficial vascular trunks, 

 which are gradually closed and cease to flow. The supply of 

 nutriment being thus cut off, the first stage of excoriation is 

 accomplished by the consequent shrivelling up and decay of the 

 periosteal and integumentary envelope. The full growth of the 

 antlers is now terminated, and the animals, being aware of their 

 strength, endeavour to complete the desquamation by rubbing 

 them against trees or other hard substance that may lie in their 

 path. This action is called burnishing. After the rutting season 

 the antlers are shed, to be again renewed in the ensuing spring ; 

 and every year they increase in development, until they attain 

 their maximum growth.* 



It is interesting to observe the yearly stages of development 

 of the antlers of the Red-Deer. During the first year there is 

 only a slight protuberance ; the second year is marked by the 

 brow antler ; the third year by the bay antler, near the crest of 

 the beam ; the fourth by the bay antler budding up the beam ; 

 the fifth by the crockets at the crown of the beam, and these 

 increase in number and size until the strength of the animal 

 declines through age. The growth of the horn is very rapid, 

 and is attended with much heat and enlargement of the blood 

 vessels in the frontal region of the cranium. 



The period of gestation of the hinds extends over 8 months, 

 the young being produced in the month of May. During the 

 winter both sexes collect in vast herds ; but in the rutting season 

 the stags frequently engage in the most desperate encounters, 

 and sometimes the antlers are inextricably fixed by the tines, 

 both animals being left to perish with interlocked weapons. 

 " As when two bulls for their fair female fight, 



Their dewlaps gored, their sides all smeared in blood." 



ViEGiL : JEneid, xii., 715. 



The specimen, of which I present a photograph from a set of 

 antlers in my museum, is, I have reason to believe, hardly sur- 

 passed, if equalled, for size and preservation, by any other from 

 the pliocene deposits and formations of Great Britain. The Earls 

 of Malmesbury and Tankerville, both well-known deerstalkers, 

 and intimately acquainted with the great animal painter and 

 zoologist. Sir Edwin Landseer, saw these antlers, and ventured 

 the opinion, that only in a few German collections in Hesse 

 * See Owen, and Richardson, on Deers' Antlers. 



