Wanderings of a Naturalist 



to the fact that the master of that side of the glen had more 

 than met his match. 



On another occasion — a little earlier in the year — the big 

 stag had rounded up his large herd of hinds on a grassy 

 hill face, while he himself was feeding quietly a considerable 

 distance above them. As I watched, a smaller stag who had 

 been loitering near, approached the hinds, but was immedi- 

 ately perceived by the lord of the herd. I do not think I 

 have ever seen a stag cover the ground so rapidly as did this 

 big beast as he charged down the hillside. The young stag 

 cleared off immediately, but although he had a good start, 

 the old warrior was not content until he had caught him up 

 and prodded him vigorously in the rear with his antlers. 



One day in this forest I was witness of an extremely 

 interesting occurrence. Near each other were two stags, both 

 heavy beasts with fine heads, but one animal slightly superior 

 in weight to the other. The latter stag had the larger fol- 

 lowing of hinds, and it was evidently his intention to round 

 the hinds of his rival into his own herd. Though he had a 

 slight advantage in weight, he hesitated to force a fight, and 

 so time and again the two stags paced slowly across the 

 hillside, often only a few feet distant from each other. The 

 heavier beast roared repeatedly in the endeavour to intimidate 

 his rivdl, sometimes walking close behind him, as though 

 debating the advantages of a bold charge, but on each occa- 

 sion coming apparently to the conclusion that the results 

 might be somewhat unpleasant for himself. By a certain 

 amount of manoeuvring, however, he succeeded in rounding 

 in his rival's hinds, one by one, into his own herd, until 

 at length only a single hind remained to the stag who had 

 thus been morally defeated. For a time he succeeded in 

 keeping his last remaining wife with him, but she too went 

 in the end across to the others. When I last saw the un- 

 fortunate stag— now quite alone — he was moving slowly and 

 thoughtfully out Qver the ridge to the hills beyond. 



A really serious and protracted fight between two stags 



144 



