180 STINKING GOAT. [PART II. 
ance of the horns annually shed by stags, that 
they may be eaten by them and the hinds. I was 
formerly inclined to treat this as a fiction, but 
seeing the extraordinary avidity with which in 
this case the bones were sought after and eaten 
by the cattle, I was led to imagine that there may 
be some foundation for it. It is indeed difficult 
to understand how such hard and intractable sub- 
stances as a Deer’s antlers could be thus disposed 
of, but there is no saying what a patient and per- 
severing mumbling of them day after day might 
not effect. It is well known, besides, that other 
animals (Toads and Shrimps for instance) are par- 
ticularly fond of their own exuvice, and, so far as 
it goes, this fact might be adduced as an argu- 
ment in support of the theory. 
Of all the stenches which it has been my mis- 
fortune to meet with, I know none to be compared 
in point of offensiveness with that emitted by the 
Common Snake when irritated, as mentioned be- 
fore, page 174. But judging from the account 
given me by a friend, of a Goat in his neighbour- 
hood, I should think that in a match for unsa- 
vouriness between the snake and the goat, the 
latter would probably have come off easily victo- 
rious. The intensity of the stink proceeding from 
