which teaches them that assimilation to surroundings is their greatest protection. In deer
forests where peat lands predominate, the majority o f stags have dark-coloured horns,
for i f they allowed them p i remain in their ordinary draWcoloured tones, which properly
assimilate :t# trees and grass, the chanties o f detection would be increased. The deer know
this, and take precautions.
The effect o f plunging their horns in peat, as four out o f six Highland stags do sooner
or later during the season, is to stain them dark at once, the points only being worn light by
constant friction.
Many Highland stags wallow in their peat baths at once, but the majority wait till the
approach o f the rutting season before taking the regular course o f bains de marais. When
once this immersion has taken place the stags’ horns remain dark for the rest o f the season,
peat being a regular dye.1
i Since the above was written the discussion on this subject in the Field has closed. I quite agree with Allan Gordon
Cameron in all he .says as to colouring of antlers. The eventual character of the horns is undoubtedly, due to the nature of the
Early in the season, in a big Northern forest where the deer have every kind o f ground
to roam over, we o f course see them with both light and dark coloured antlers, but towards
the end over 90 per cent are a blackish brown. This is so sure to be the case, and so much
are these dark antlers with white tips admired, that Mr. Macleay has found it necessary to
put all his stags’ heads into his private peat wallow.
I shall now endeavour to give some account o f the best stags’ heads which have come
under my notice, and have divided them into the following classes
individual, for when additional colouring takes place it is due to the necessity of assimilation to environment. Sir Douglas
Brooke too, I see, has called attention to the importance of the velvet question in stags that eventually become light or dark
antlered.