STAG. 



281 



willow, and hazel ; the flowers and buds of the 

 cornel, &c. In summer, when they have great 

 choice, they prefer rye to all other grain, and the 

 black berry-bearing Alder (Rhamnus Franguia) 

 to all other wood. The flesh of the fawn is very 

 good : that of the female or hind not bad, but 

 of the stag is strong, and of an unpleasant fla- 

 vour : the skin and the horns are the most use- 

 ful parts of the animal ; the former making a 

 very pliable and durable leather, ^diile the latter 

 are used by cutlers and other artificers for various 

 purposes of manufacture. " 



Stags in general cast or shed their horns sooner 

 or later in the month of March, in proportion to 

 their ages. At the end of June they are full- 

 grown, and the animal rubs them strongly against 

 the boughs of trees, or any convenient object, in 

 order to free them from the skin, which is now 

 become useless, and by the beginning of August 

 they begin to assume the full strength and con- 

 sistence Avhich they retain throughout the re- 

 mainder of the year. 



It is hardly necessary to add, that the longevity 

 of the Stag, which became proverbial among the 

 ancients, is, in some degree, a vulgar error ; for 

 though the animal, compared with many other 

 quadrupeds, may be justly considered as long- 

 lived, since it is supposed in some instances to 

 arrive at the age of thirty-five or forty years, yet it 

 is by no means possessed of the longevity anciently 

 attributed to it, which is merely a popular preju- 



