The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-06 00:00:00

a staggard, and when another year has passed he is
only a stag. When there are ten points to the
antlers he is a "warrantable stag," and when
each beam is surmounted by a triple prong the stag
is denominated a "royal" hart. The weight of the
antlers varies, according to their size and massive-
ness, from ten, twelve, to fifteen pounds, although
sometimes the Weight is much greater ; those of a
stag of twenty-foar killed in Dess-aa weighed
32 pounds.
The reproduction of the stag's horn is in itself a pheno-
mena ; but it becomes still more curious when we know
that the laws which determine its formation aro directly the
reverse of those which govern the growth of the horn in
other animals—in our domestic cattle, for instance. The
process is a wholly different one. The horns of oxen are
known to be more developed than those of the bull ; while
the stag's antlers aro tho emanation of his perfect non-
emasculated state. So intimately is their formation con-
nected with the generative system, that should these organs
be mutilated the antlers suffer in proportion. They either
take an imperfect slanted form, or do not shoot forth at all.
If such injury occur during the period that the stag's head,
to use an heraldic term, is "armed," the animal will never
more cast his horn, and as it then is so will it remain here-
after.
The author informs us that a good forester ought
to be able to tell by the " slot" whether a stag or
deer has passed over the ground, and furthermore,
explains
foot that themar k , t staghe
ttreadshe age
clean,
loefa
nt the beast.
leavingbe ast .
swell-defined He
sides of the hoof closing together as he puts his foot
down, and leaving on soft ground a fine ridge across
the centre; while the female treads anyhow, and
leaves a slovenly "slot." In describing the golden
eagle, Mr. Boner gives a most interesting account
of the capture of a young eaglet by Count
Arco at Bohrmoos, in Allgau, an estate be-
longing to Prince Frederick Wildburg-Wolfegg-
Waldose, thirty miles from the Lake of Constance.
After many days of patient watching he succeeded
in shooting the parent birds. When the real diffi-
culty began, he ultimately reached the eyrie, after
ascending 110 feet on three rickety ladders joined
together. Other adventures of this daring bird
fancier on a grand scale are equally interesting.
Want of space prevents us from giving insertion
to extracts, which are well worthy of perusal ; but
for an accurate description of the animali of which
the author has had any experience, among which
are the boar, roe, red deer, fallow deer, capercarle,
black cock, golden eagle, &c., &c., this book may
be considered as an authority.

Israel in Egypt. A Poem. By Edwin Ather-
stone, author of " The Fall of Nineveh." " The
Handwriting on the Wall," &c. Longman.
A poem, int,blank verse, consisting of 27 books,
and representing the struggles of mankind under
the influence of Satanic agencies is a somewhat ad-
venturous undertaking. The taste of the age is
not especially poetic, and after Milton's great epic
any modern attempt seems insignificant. Mr.
,Atherstone, however, is no inexperienced writer.
His former works have attracted attention and
obtained for him a creditable reputation. His sub-
jects have all been drawn from the inspired pages,
and have been mostly those in which some awful
manifestation of Divine wrath has been called forth
by the wickedness and perversity of man. The
fall of Nineveh and the destruction of Babylon were
subjects of this class, and the volume before us
concerns a still more striking page in the sacred
history. The mission of Moses, the stubbornness
of Pharoah, the ten terrible plagues, the departure
of the Israelites, and the final overthrow of the
Egyptians in the Red Sea, are all represented in.'
these pages, while a more human interest is
interwoven in the story of Rachel and her
lover. The spirits of evil play a prominent
part, and since this bears some appearance of
copying the great author of " Paradise. Lost," the
writer thus speaks of it in the preface :—" In adopt-
ing a portion of that machinery which was so
magnificently treated by Milton, the present writer
had assuredly no thought of imitating, far less of
vying with, that sublimest of all poets. Perhaps,
on the contrary, he may be thought more justly
liable to the charge of audacity for having in so
many important points presumed to differ from him.
In one simile will be found the only image which
he has consciously borrowed from him or from any
other poet ; and even in that instance, the variation
is so considerable, that the theft will not, he hopes,
be regarded as a serious crime." There are many
passages of much force and vigour in the volume
before us, and it will probably find many admirers
among those who are attracted by works of this
character.