202 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
struck with the superiority in the size of the deer 
compared with those of Blair; this was due to 
smaller numbers, better food, and shelter of large 
woods, to which they could retire during winter : 
17 and 18 stone were not extraordinary weights 
for stags of ten or twelve years old. 
It is a curious fact that the rutting season 
commences with the hard frosts of October, after 
which the deer are out of season. With other 
animals this sexual excitement is the result of 
warm weather, or early spring, when birds and 
creatures of all kinds, released from the icy fetters 
of the winter, commence their loves in the warm 
hopes of approaching summer. 
When October arrives, the stags begin to 
bellow, the hair of the neck grows coarse and 
long ; they fight with great fury to obtain the 
mastery of the hinds, until the master stag, 
having gained the ascendency through frequent 
combats, associates with the females, and 
becomes a ragged - looking object, far different 
from the grand appearance which marked him as 
the lordly hart at the first commencement of his 
amours. 
It is generally believed that all deer shed their 
antlers annually, but this is not the case. Both 
the red and the fallow deer shed their horns in 
spring. The huge wapiti of America does the 
same, but the sambur of India is supposed to 
change its horns only once in three years. 
There is no regular season, either in India or 
