British Deer and their Horns 
92 
carefully distinguished from the “ horns ” of the bovine ruminants. These are outgrowths of true bone, 
covered during their growth with vascular, sensitive integument coated with short hair, technically called 
“the velvet.” When the growth of the antler is complete, the supply of blood to it ceases, the skin dies 
and peels off, leaving the bone bare and insensible, in which state it is well adapted for a fighting weapon. 
After a time, by a process of absorption near the base, it becomes loosened from the skull and is shed. 
A more or less elongated portion, called the “ pedicle,” always remains on the skull, from the summit of 
which a new antler is developed. In most existing deer this process is repeated with great regularity at 
the same period of the year. Even the great horns of the wapiti, and, judging by all analogy, those of 
the Irish elk ( Megaceros ), the pair of which weigh 70 lbs., more than all the bones of the skeleton put 
together, are produced in the course of three or four months. 
According to all works on Natural History which I have read, the commencement of 
growth of a stag’s new horns does not take place until the old ones are cast. Now I noticed 
a very curious thing this spring, namely that the new skin and the epidermis beneath it do 
commence to grow for some days before the old horns are shed. 1 I had been carefully watching 
a park stag in March a few days before he cast his horns, and noticed a visible swelling below 
the coronet which was slightly larger than the coronet itself. When the horns were cast, on 
15th March, this swollen mass of epidermis and skin was therefore ready to overlap at once 
the bare top of the “ pedicle,” and as soon as the flaps on the summit joined, the bone com¬ 
menced to grow from the summit of the pedicle. A few days later than this I went over 
to Leonardslee, where Sir Edmund Loder was trying the effects of some Mannlicher bullets. 
He allowed me to shoot a Japanese stag, and the first thing I noticed was the distended state 
of the skin round the ct pedicle ” where the new epidermis was actually growing, for the 
animal’s horns were just about to be shed. 
I made it my business this year to draw a series of sketches showing the exact growth 
of a stag’s horns during the summer. They describe the gradual formation and completion 
of the horn better than any verbal explanation, and are all taken from the same animal 
(see opposite page). 
Having seen how an adult stag grows his horns, another picture illustrates those grown 
during six successive years (p. 90). Of course, in the year of its birth (1880) the deer had 
no antlers, and the dates of growth and shedding are stated beneath the plate. Quite the best 
series of antlers I have seen, kept and marked from year to year and showing the successive 
development, are those of four pet stags, which were kept in Blair Castle Park, and which 
now adorn the walls of the passages at Blair. The Duke of Athole has kindly allowed me 
to have a photograph taken of the splendid series of antlers grown and shed (during ten 
successive years) by “ Tilt,” one of the four, and under the picture a full description is given. 
It is interesting to notice that, the stag having lived under semi-feral conditions with a good 
range, few other deer, good winter feeding and shelter, the head shows only a little deteriora¬ 
tion at the age of fourteen, though the tops are, as is usual for a stag of his age, much 
heavier, whilst the brows are becoming smaller (see p. 91). 
The time of year when a deer sheds his antlers depends upon his age. In a park the 
oldest stags shed first, and are followed at intervals of about a fortnight by those who come 
next in age ; so that, after a mild winter, a nine-year-old stag will sometimes shed as early as 
1 See March 12th figure on opposite page. 
