THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
would no doubt have been killed. Even when I picked the dog up and carried 
him away the angry hind followed me, closely grinding her teeth with 
such rage that I thought she meant to strike the dog as I held him in my 
arms. 
It is somewhat curious that more male calves die than those of the 
opposite sex; they are, like boys, more delicate. Young stags will breed 
with hinds at eighteen months old, but grow somewhat slowly after 
the third year. They are usually considered fit to shoot at six or seven 
years of age, being then full grown, but they do not reach their prime 
in a wild state until eleven. From this age to fifteen or sixteen a wild stag 
is at his best, though in parks a decline usually sets in at about thirteen 
years of age. Known and marked hinds have been kept in confinement for 
twenty-seven years, and it is probable that the age of Red deer is very 
similar to that of the horse. In some fortunate cases it is possible that a 
stag may live to thirty-five years; but even supposing he is not shot there 
are many dangers to which he is exposed before such an age can be 
reached. 
There is no doubt that the roaring of the stag and his desire for the 
other sex is entirely governed by the sexual condition of the females. Some 
hinds brought from New Zealand in 1910 were turned out in Warnham 
Park in the middle of June. These hinds arrived when they were in season, 
and all the adult stags whose horns were only half grown began roaring. 
However, this excitement soon died down. Sir S. Maryon-Wilson reports 
in “ The Field ” (October 8, 1904) the case of a stag which roared through- 
out the summer in Kinveachy Forest, Boat of Garten, and I could give 
other instances of a similar character. There is great variety in the roar 
of the stag. Some give vent to a loud, howling note not unlike that of a 
wolf, and I have noticed in watching those that emit such sounds that 
they hold the head much higher than others. Most stags when roaring 
hold the head and neck at any angle between fifty and seventy-five degrees. 
In doing so some few compress the upper lips inwards towards the palate, 
a fact neither noted nor drawn by any artists, though I have seen it 
many times at a very short range. Generally it may be said that the 
larger and stronger the stag, and in consequence the more sure he is 
of his hinds, the less he roars. Some big stags, especially wood dwellers, 
never roar at all, and if they do, do so only at night. Stalkers have 
told me of individual wood stags that never emitted one roar for several 
seasons, although they were known to frequent certain woods with 
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