The European Stag, or Red Deer, is a fine looking animal, the tallest of the deer kind. The pride of the north, he delights in the highest mountains and the thickest forests, and is famed for long life, though the natural term of his existence be often exaggerated, and which, when exposed to human observation, he has never yet been accurately known to reach. He comes to full growth at five years, when his horns send out as many antlers, and he is called a hart, and the female a hind.

Every year the male sheds his horns, and conscious of his temporary weakness, hides himself till his new ones are hardened. His color, as his name imports, is a bright reddish-brown, of a darker shade near the belly, which is white. When fatigued in the chase, he takes the water if near, and will cross with ease considerable and rapid streams; when wounded or taken, he sheds tears like a child; but though timid, when at bay he sometimes takes ample vengeance upon the hounds before he is subdued.

red deer

LION.