THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
ENGLAND Stones 
Cumberland (wild) 16 to 28i 
Devon and Somerset (wild) 16 ,, 25 
English parks 16 ,, 32 
IRELAND 
Killarney district (wild) 16 to 31i 
Irish parks 18 ,, 27 
The heaviest ^veight of Highland stags of which I have any record is 
that of thirty -three stags shot at Gobernuisgach, Sutherland, in 1893, 
during the tenancy of Sir Walter Corbett. The mean weight was 
17 St. 4 oz. 
In 1895 the weight of 1,176 stags from the mainland of Scotland was 
found to average 12| st. clean. In that year about 7,000 stags were killed, 
of which the general average may be taken at 12 st. 
At Black Mount the average is 14 st.; Dalness 15 st.; Glenquoich 15 st. 
Some years ago, in one season. Lord Ilchester secured eighty stags at 
Ben Alder, whose average weight was 16 st. In great years, such as 1893 
and 1912, all Highland stags averaged a stone heavier than usual. Few 
forests produce beasts heavier than 17 st., whilst one of 19 st. or 20 st. 
is a great rarity. 
The conditions which produce great body growth are not always those 
which go to create fine antlers. A stag may become exceedingly fat on 
various food, both natural and artificial, but it seems that something 
more than fine weather and fattening products are necessary to produce 
fine horns. In the great year of 1893 there were a large number of fine 
heads as well as heavy weights, but in 1912, when the stags were abnor- 
mally heavy, there were exceptional heads in isolated forests, while the 
average horn -growth was only normal. 
Abundance of food will build up a large body in a stag, but not a good 
head. To attain the latter it seems to be necessary that lime and nitrogen- 
ous matter should be present in the soil itself. Thus we see that Warnham 
stags will grow remarkable horns in a park where lime is abundant in 
the subsoil, and other bone and horn forming products are added by 
treating the grasses with phosphates, whereas if these same deer are 
transported to a good park, such as Woburn, where the soil is light and 
abundant artificial food is given to the deer, only heavy bodies are the 
result. In Sutherland, too, a county more or less devoid of lime, the stags 
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