HOMING INSTINCTS OF WOUNDED DEER 129 
myself in the same forest. I asked the stalker 
whether he had any news of the stag. lie said : 
" That is a question. The stalkers in the other 
forest never found any stag, but a very curious 
thing has happened. About 20 yards inside the 
fence, at the nearest point in that part of the 
forest which is fenced in from where you shot 
the stag, that would be about a distance of three 
miles, the skeleton of a stag was found last April. 
The head stalker on that part of the forest tells 
me he is quite sure it was not a stag that was shot 
inside the fence. I have got the head here, and 
will show it to you." I examined it carefully. 
It was a good regular head of ten points, with 
remarkably long forks at the top, and I thought 
it looked a better head than that of the stag I 
had shot, and said so to the stalker. He replied : 
" It is the same shape, and I well remember noticing 
the space between the forks at the top. Not 
only that, but in April when we found him there 
were no stags on that part of the ground and had 
not been for some time ; also by the bleached 
condition of the horns, I am quite sure he must 
have died in October or early in November, and 
he could not have died a natural death after the 
winter was over. And as to his getting through 
17 
