CHAP. XXII 
THE DEER 
199 
by their dense retreat, instead of being exposed, 
as they now are, to the fury of every winters 
gale. The effect of misery has been seen in the 
deterioration of the animal. The deer exhibits 
in its horns the ratio of its vigour. If the animal 
has been well nurtured, and protected from its 
birth, never unduly exposed to privations, but 
sheltered and well fed through every season, it 
will develop antlers superior in length and 
solidity, and it will increase in weight. The 
red-deer of Scotland cannot be compared, either 
in size or antlers, with those of Central Europe, 
which exist in large forests, and live a life of 
undisturbed seclusion. Those which have been 
starved by exposure to cold and winter famine 
have naturally fallen off and deteriorated in size. 
A hart of twelve years old in our Scottish 
Highlands will hardly average 15 stone when 
grallocked, although some of those which have 
had the advantage of woods will exceed 18 and 
even 20 stone. The same species of deer in 
Hungary and Transylvania will average 20 stone, 
and will produce antlers of great length and weight, 
with from fourteen to twenty points, against the 
Scotch stag’s ten or twelve. Nothing can more 
forcibly prove the necessity of shelter and good 
food. Many persons imagine that a wild animal 
can live upon anything, and will thrive where a 
domestic animal would starve. To a certain 
extent this is true, but, on the other hand, the 
creature will either improve or deteriorate, 
