THE SURGEON OF THE DEER FOREST 205 
after, but he always had a stiff joint. The first 
year he never shed his velvet and dropped a point 
from his royal head ; the second year he cleaned, 
but never regained his royal head or even a good 
one again." 
In Speedy 's Natural History of Sport in 
Scotland with Rod and Gun there is an interesting 
account of a thirteen-pointer whose hind leg was 
broken above the hock. In the forest in Inverness- 
shire where this stag was, the deer were regularly 
fed during the winter. " When feeding com- 
menced he came regularly as before ; but in 
consequence of his wound he was reduced to a 
skeleton, and, being very weak, was kept off by the 
other stags. He used to hide, however, not far 
off, and when the others took their departure he 
returned to the feeding-place, when the keeper 
attended to him and had opportunities, with the 
aid of his glass, of noting the injured limb at a 
comparatively short distance. Within a month 
after feeding commenced, he was able to use it, and 
in three months was master of the herd. . . . As 
the new antlers grew it was found that the one on 
the opposite side from the broken limb was minus 
the brow-point." He was shot in that season, and 
scaled 17 st. 12 lb. clean, being then nine years old. 
