86 Field and Forest Rambles. 



a huge ruminant like the Irish stag, standing from ten to 

 eleven feet to the summit of its antlers, with a spread of horn 

 often eight to ten feet, must have at all times been subjected 

 to unfavourable competition with man and four-footed foes. 

 One can scarcely conceive such a spread of horn could be 

 carried through the forest without coming frequently in con- 

 tact with trunks and branches ; hence, possibly, the animal 

 may have only frequented the open country. The moose, 

 when excited by the amorous roaring of the cow, the bellow- 

 ings of a rival, or the imitative sounds of the Indian, crashes 

 madly through the forest, with snout extended and horns 

 thrown well back on his massive withers, so as to prevent their 

 becoming entangled among the stouter branches. His progress 

 through an alder swamp, which is highly obstructive to other 

 animals, and teasing beyond measure to the two-footed pur- 

 suer, is to him of no importance, seeing that his stout limbs 

 and short neck, as compared with the crest and horns of the two 

 extinct stags, are admirably suited to overcome such obstruc- 

 tions. If we should wonder, therefore, how he can make his 

 way through the Canadian swamps and dense forests, what 

 must have been the difficulties incurred by the others under 

 similar circumstances ? The frantic excitement of the males 

 of certain deer during the rutting season is wonderful ; I have 

 known many instances of the red deer of Cashmere having 

 been killed at this season by the hunter merely breaking 

 decayed branches in the forest, when the infuriated animal, in 

 expectation of meeting a rival or mate, blindly rushed forward 

 until it was too late to find out its mistake* We may well 

 imagine, therefore, what often resulted at this season on many 

 a swampy valley of Ireland of old, when its great horned 

 hart, maddened by passion, scoured down the slope to the 

 marsh side, beyond which, descrying the object of his desires, 

 he halted for a moment, and erecting his splendid head in 

 defiance of obstacles, dashed frantically through the marly 

 * " Wanderings of a Naturalist in India," p. 1 88. 



