THE RED DEER 
occasionally, but taking no part in the fray, and often the reason of his 
fine horns is due to the fact that he cannot obtain hinds. In Austria three 
or four hinds to a stag is considered quite sufficient, and in forests where 
this proportion is maintained the deer invariably have fine horns. The 
new horns start growing at once, in fact they have already begun to 
press upwards round the sides of the coronet before the old ones are shed. 
The gradual process of growth need only be briefly described. 
At first it is very slow, only round dark knobs covered with skin are 
seen on a park deer until April 1 , when the knob is seen to be dividing into 
a fork. By April 9 the brow and the bay project a couple of inches, and the 
main beam is five or six inches long, growing outwards and upwards. 
By April 17 the brow, bay, and main beam are six or seven inches long. 
By April 26 the brow and the bay are hooking, and the top of the main 
beam is now forked and showing the beginning of the tray point. By May 4 
the horn is nearly half grown, with the tray still short. By May 18 the 
main beam is from twenty to thirty inches long, and the first indication 
of swelling at the end shows that the tops will soon appear. On May 25 
the top is forking into two, three or four branches. The horn now begins 
to grow very rapidly. Between June 1 and June 15 the whole of the top is 
formed into three large points or various branches. By June 27 both horns 
may be said to be complete, and the mucus beneath the skin covering 
commences to dry. By July 6 the whole of the lower part and the front 
of the tops are dry, but it generally takes another week or ten days before 
the back tops have absorbed all the blood and mucus lying between the 
horn and the skin covering. Between July 20 and August 1 the stag is 
rubbing off its velvet. The oldest stags are generally the first to clean, 
the other deer following in order of maturity, prickets not being clean till 
the end of September. 
The foregoing remarks apply only to park deer, but all the conditions 
amongst wild ones are the same, except that the dates must be placed a 
month later. Collyns, after an experience of forty-six years amongst the 
Red deer in the West of England, states that he has seen but two stags 
killed before September 10 whose horns were perfectly free from velvet. 
This writer’s remarks are doubtless correct, but it is curious that 
there are many stags in Scotland, in a good season, with clean horns 
before September 1. I have myself seen more than one Scottish red 
deer head quite clean on August 10. This, however, is very rare. Most 
Scottish stags are seen fraying their horns between September 1 and 
39 
