The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-06-18

ed deep snow these deer frequently
collect together in parties some
times of considerable size and form
yards like the elk.
There is considerable variation
in the time of changing the gray
dress of winter for the red coat of
summer, as there is in the date when
the antlers of the bucks are shed,
these differences being apparently
mainly due to the severity or mild
ness of the winters. The pairing
season, during which the bucks, like
those of other deer, are exceedingly
pugnacious, lasts from the latter part
of October till the beginning of De-
cember. The fawns, which are near
ly always two in number, are most
ly born in May. They retain their
sJsifa1 1eaats- -Santeiaher when.
winter dress. The fawns are easily
tanned, if captured sufficiently young.
In bucks of the first year the antlers
form unbranched spikes, while in
the second year they are simply fork
ed without any branching of the two
prongs, although the subnasal snag
makes its appearance at the same
time.
With regard to the meaning of
the term antler, it appears that the
word is derived from the old French
ONt0illeY-a corruption of the late
Latin dntocnlorum meaning before
the eyes-which was originally ap-
piled to the branch of the antler
which descends over the forehead
and is now designated the brow
tine. At a subsequent period the
word antler seems to have been en-
ployed indifferently for all the
branches of these appendages, while
still later it was used to designate
the entire appendages themselves.
1t is in the latter sense that it is now
employed, the various branches of
the antlers being termed tines.
In addition to being more or less
branched the most characteristic fea-
ture of the antler when fully devel-
oped is that its outer surface is rug
ged and devoid of any covering of
skin or horn. In fact, for all prac-
tical purposes an ant1er may be re-
garded as mass of dead bone borne
for a certain period by living ami
NAL. Except occasionally, as an in
dividual peculiarly antlers are shed
once every year, and, save in the
reindeer, are present only in the
male sex. They arise from pair
of longer or shorter bony pedicles
situated on the skull above and be-
hind the eyes, and forming part of
the skull itself.
When the antlers of a stag have
been recently shed the above men
toned bony pedicles are completely
covered with skin. aud merely form
part of the forehead. In a short
time,- however, there appear on the
SUBMITS of these pedicles small vel
vet knobs, which are highly sensi-
tive and tender, and are supplied by
an unusual number of blood vessels.
| These knobs are formed by a de-
position of bony matter, and increase
very rapidly in size. In young deer
and few of the smaller forms their
growth is limited to the formation
of simple spike, or spike with one
fork, but in the adults of the more
typical kinds of deer they branch
into smaller or larger number of
tines, until they finally assume the
form of the complete antler. The
whole antler is then completely in
vested with soft and vascular skin
clothed with exceedingly fine hair,
hence termed the "velvet." When,
however, the growth of the antler
is completed in its upper part, a
deposition of bony matter takes place
at its base, Just above the joint of
union with the pedicle of the skull,
in the form of prominent ring.
This ring, of course, constricts the
blood vessels supplying the velvet,
and ultimately causes them to dry
up. In consequence of this cutting
off of the supply of blood by the
ring or "burr" the velvet itself like
wise dries up, and is eventually re-
moved by the animal rubbing its
newly formed antlers against the
stems of trees or other convenient
objects. The antIers are then COM
| plete. They attain their full devel-
opment shortly before the COM
mencement for pairing and during
that period they are employed as
most efficient weapons in the con-
tests which then take place between
the males of all species of the deer
tribe. Subsequently the living bone
beneath the skin below the burr OF
the antlers is absorbed, when the ant
Ter itself is shed, to be renewed in
the following season in the same
manner as before.
In the fawns the antlers take
the form merely of simple conical
spike, and this type is retained in
certain South American species
throughout life. In the following
year the antler gives off branch
near the base, and this form also
constitutes the highest development
attained by. some of the smaller spe-
cies. In the more typical deer the
antlers, however, become more anC
more branched with each succeeding
year. till in the red deer they may
occasionally have as many as forty
points. The amount of bony nIattel
annually secreted to form the ant
lers of the larger deer is enormous
antlers of the red deer having beer
obtained that weighed upwards O
seventy-four pounds, while those o
the extinct Irish deer must hav'
probably scaled one hundred pound
during life.
THEY HAD been discussing tn
baby's ears, eyes and nose. "An'