buck’s head should be in every way, and is particularly “ rough,” which is a very rare beauty
in a fellow deer. The measurements o f this head are as follows :—
the skull, without the lower jaw, is 8 lbs. 1 oz., while 5-|- lbs. would be considered a fair
weight for an average adult buck’s head. This head, and one now at Colebrooke,
which I also figure, are the two best fallow deer heads I haye seen. T h e Colebrooke head1
is quite as good as mine, has more points, even to the additional ones on top o f the brows ;
it is also an inch and a half longer, but the palms are not quite so broad, nor is the whole
1 The measurement of this fine head is not in Rowland Ward’s book, where it must have been overlooked, as it hangs away
in a dark passage apart from all the other fallow heads.
Width of Palms
(R ) 7 * and (L ) 8 § J g 5 17 28* H X I 3
and I give photographs o f it from two points o f view jg : 168). The weight o f the horns on
head quite so massive. This grand head was obtained by the late Sir Victor Brooke from
Mr. Thomas Grove, the fishmonger in Charing Cross, but unfortunately no record was kept
o f the park from which it came.
Occasionally the back points become unusually elongated, particularly i f the tops have
not properly developed. In Mr. Whitaker’s head, from Ashton Park, there has been an
injury to the right horn on the anterior margin, and this has caused an added amount o f horn
growth to go into the back point, which is 7 inches long and 2* inches in circumference.
There are two fine heads in the servants’ hall at Warnham Court, which carry on both horns
particularly long back points, measuring 7 * and 8 inches respectively.
In spite o f the enormous number o f fallow deer in this country, we hardly ever see a
buck’s head which has suffered from an injury and then thrown out curious snags and bifurcations
from all sorts o f queer places, as is frequently the case with red deer, and commonly so