Four feet, wings, and fins . asked May. Only the males have horns; and sometimesthey are without; for all deer shed their hornsonce a year. Do tell us all about it, Mr. Dumas. When the deer is a year old, the first horncomes, straight and smooth; when it is two yearsold it loses the old pair and has another, with onesnag added. In this manner it keeps adding a snagevery year, so you see a deers age can be accuratelytold by his horns. If there are nine branches he isten years of age, and a noble-looking animal, indeed. But how do they come off ? asked May. Dothey get knocked off ? 156 o CD O i
Four feet, wings, and fins . asked May. Only the males have horns; and sometimesthey are without; for all deer shed their hornsonce a year. Do tell us all about it, Mr. Dumas. When the deer is a year old, the first horncomes, straight and smooth; when it is two yearsold it loses the old pair and has another, with onesnag added. In this manner it keeps adding a snagevery year, so you see a deers age can be accuratelytold by his horns. If there are nine branches he isten years of age, and a noble-looking animal, indeed. But how do they come off ? asked May. Dothey get knocked off ? 156 o CD O i HO. AN OLD-FASHIONED VISIT. No, it is a provision of nature. Every year, gen-erally between November and March, the deershorns loosen at the base and fall. The deer seemsvery much ashamed during this time and tries toconceal himself ; in a short time, however, new hornsbegin to grow, covered with a velvety or a mossysubstance nearly the color of the animals hair; andthey grow so rapidly that they are entire in a fewdays. All the time the horns are growing, the mossupon them is very tender, and this may be one reasonthat the deer hide in thickets until their horns havecompleted their growth and the moss upon them be-comes dry and hard. When the antlers are fullygrown and the moss is fully dry they come forth, andat once begin rubbing their horns against the treesuntil it all has peeled off; then with a shake of theirheads the animals are their own proud-looking selvesagain ; for the horns, as heavy and inconvenient tocarry as they look, add much to the proud bearing ofthe animals. All the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1879
