A FLBBT-POOTED NEiaHBOR IN THE WOODS. 237 



a year old. The two-branched horn belongs to a 

 deer three years old, and so on. Very rarely indeed 

 a female will develop a spike horn covered with vel- 

 vet. This velvety covering of the antlers when they 



The spike horn. Antlers four years old. Antlers three years old. 



first appear is a most remarkable part of the develop- 

 ment of the horns. I quote in part what Dr. Mer- 

 riam has to say regarding it : " The new horns of a 

 deer in the Adirondacks are first seen about the mid- 

 dle of May; they appear like 

 soft, dark-colored excrescences 

 which, as they rapidly elongate, 

 harden from below upward. 

 By the time the growth, which 

 is accomplished in about three 

 months, is completed, all but 

 the tips is well ossified ; the 

 soft, velvetlike skin now begins 

 to peel off in irregular shreds, 

 and by the first or middle of 

 September the horns are generally clean. This vel- 

 vet does not come away of itself, but the animal rubs 



The skin now begins to peel 

 off in irregular shreds." 



