NEW ZEALAND STAGS’ HEADS 
though they grow to much greater length than those of any wild stag which 
has been shot in the British Isles. The heads are symmetrical, well- 
balanced, as a rule, and with good lower points. I do not think it can be 
said that there is any very regular formation about the tops in the case 
of the more fully developed heads. Fourteen-pointers may either fork as 
do Irish heads, with a double pair of forks on each top, or “bunch ” into a 
cluster of points. The cup formation is rare, but so it is in the majority of 
Scottish heads at the present day. A most interesting feature of the Exhi- 
bition of British Deer Heads which I organized for “ Country Life ” in 1913 
was the almost complete absence of cups on the 140 odd Scottish heads 
exhibited. The only head with perfect cups on each horn was a beautiful 
little royal from the Isle of Lewis. 
The Nelson heads are dark and fairly strong in the beam, but are not 
to be compared with the best heads from the Wairarapa and Otago. The 
original type of head has been preserved faithfully, as may be seen by 
comparing present-day Nelson heads with that of the first stag imported, 
which was found dead about 1874, bearing twenty points. 
The best Nelson head of which I have measurements is a royal with 
39 inches’ length of horn. 
A very common question is: “What constitutes a first-class stag’s 
head ? ” This, within certain limits, is entirely a matter of taste. An 
expert would pick out the six best heads in a room, but he would be guided 
entirely by his own taste in deciding which of those heads he would shoot 
first were he lying within a hundred yards of them in the open! One man 
would go for points, another for length of horn, another for span, another 
for thickness and roughness of horn; and the stag has yet to be born which 
combines all these qualities in such a way as to reconcile conflicting 
opinions and enable a unanimous verdict to proclaim his head the best in 
existence. Measurements, of course, are the chief factors in deciding 
the rival merits of heads. These, however, do not take into account the 
infinitesimal curves and gradations which are of the greatest importance 
in judging a trophy. At the Vienna Exhibition of 1910 good judges, such as 
Mr H. J. Elwes and Mr J. G. Millais, considered that not nearly enough 
attention was given to “ symmetry,” an opinion with which I entirely 
agree. Beauty of form is a most important feature in estimating the quality 
of a head, and for this reason I consider the Otago heads are far superior 
to those killed in the Wairarapa, though doubtless there are many who 
will disagree. A short thick head with a large number of points, often 
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