198 
STAG. 
strength and their vigour ; such of them as are 
sickly, or have been wounded, never shooting out 
that magnificent profusion so much admired in 
this animal. Thus the horns may, in every res- 
pect, be resembled to a vegetable substance, graft- 
ed upon the head of an animal. Like a vegetable 
they grow from the extremities ; like a vegetable 
they are for a while covered with a bark that 
nourishes them ; like a vegetable they have their 
annual production and decay ; and a strong 
imagination might suppose that the leafy produc- 
tions on which the animal feeds, go once more to 
vegetate in his horns. 
About the beginning of spring, all of this 
kind are seen to shed their horns, which fall off 
of themselves ; though sometimes the animal as- 
sists the efforts of nature, by rubbing them against 
a tree. It seldom happens that the branches on 
both sides fall off the same time, there often be- 
ing two or three days between the dropping of 
the one and the other. The old stags usually 
shed their horns first ; which generally happens 
towards the latter end of February, or the begin- 
ning of March. Those of the second head, (name- 
ly, such as are between five and six years old) shed 
their horns about the middle or latter end of 
March ; those still younger, in the month of April ; 
and the youngest of all, not till the middle or latter 
end of May ; they generally shed them in pools 
of water, whither they retire from the heat : and 
this has given rise to the opinion of their always 
hiding their horns. These rules, though true in 
general, are yet subject to many variations ; and 
Universally it is known that a severe winter retards 
the shedding of the horns. The horns of the 
stag generally increase in thickness and in height 
from the second year of its age to the eighth. In 
this state of perfection they continue during the 
