238 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



it ofE against small trees, as if the antlers itched." 

 Judge Caton, of Ottawa, says : " The evidence which 

 I have derived from a great number of observations 

 made through a course of years is conclusive that 

 Nature prompts the animal to denude its antlers of 

 their covering at a certain period of growth, while 

 yet the blood has as free access to it as it ever had." 



Four months after the antlers have fully matured 

 they fall off again. The largest and handsomest horns 

 come from middle-aged deer ; those with few prongs 

 come from young or very old animals, and sometimes 

 from a very ill-conditioned or sickly one. 



The rutting season of the deer is in November ; 

 during this month the bucks rush wildly about and 



"The bucks flght like troopers." 



fight like troopers. As a consequence, that mag- 

 nificent game park established by the late Austin 

 Corbin in the wild and picturesque region of Suna- 

 pee, N. H., has to be closed to all visitors. I am told 

 that it is not safe to meet a deer on the grounds while 

 he is in this pugnacious state of mind ; it is not infre- 



