EARLY DAYS IN OUDH 47 
through his ear, chipped his brow antler, and struck 
him high in the shoulder. 
The spotted-deer passes much of his time in the 
spring fighting with other members of the herd, the 
light sparring with an opponent soon changing to 
deadly earnest. The object of the attack seems to 
be to get the frontal tines under the chest of the 
adversary ; the stronger stag is thus generally he 
who has his head lower. They push savagely with 
interlocked horns, till one, seeing an opening, falls 
suddenly on his knees, and then, rising, endeavours 
to impale his adversary, and with such force is 
this done that the frontal tine is sometimes broken 
off, and remains embedded in the chest of the oppo- 
nent. Meanwhile the does stand around placidly 
chewing the cud and regarding the combatants with 
an air of indifference, and the young stags make the 
most of the opportunities afforded by the forgetful- 
ness of their seniors. But that affection exists 
between the sexes there can be no doubt, for on 
more than one occasion I have seen a doe detach 
herself from the startled herd and return to where 
the dying stag lay, though it will be understood 
that on such occasions the sportsman was not visible. 
The stag is not without courage, and when calling 
in the rutting season—provided he neither scents nor 
sees the hunter—will stand his ground, and even 
approach to investigate any rustling amongst the 
leaves and bushes which he suspects to herald the 
approach of an intruder; and I have, but only on 
one occasion, known a wounded stag charge with 
lowered antlers across the open, to fall almost at the 
hunter’s feet with a bullet through the spine. 
