A well-grown Stag stands over four feet at the withers, with a thickly-coated neck of a greyish tint, a rich red-brown body-colour, uniformly curved symmetrical antlers, and head held high. The Stag in summer is a lordly creature. In winter its coat is longer and of a greyer tint. As is the case in allied species, and all but a few of the Rusine Deer, the new-born calves are brilliantly spotted with white. [Illustration: RED DEER AND FALLOW DEER IN WINTER.] The pairing season occupies the early part of October. The calves are born at the end of May or the beginning of June; whilst the Stags drop their antlers between the end of February and the earlier days of April, the youngest latest. Up till the age of twelve the animal continues to increase in bulk and strength, and it is highly probable that they do not ever much outlive twenty years, although superstition credits them with very many more. It is towards the end of August or the beginning of September that the well-nourished Stags, having already cleared their antlers of their “velvet,” leave their retirement, and with swollen necks as well as restless mien, seek out the hinds. During the rutting season, which lasts about three weeks, they eat but little, and lose weight rapidly, to be regained in the subsequent repose upon the summer-developed foliage. In the southern counties of Great Britain the hunting of the Stag has degenerated into the repeated chase of a few individuals, deprived of their antlers, and let out of boxes shortly before the sportsmen put in an appearance; whilst long-ranged rifles have reduced the difficulties of what not many years ago--more especially in Scotland--was a form of sport which very severely taxed the physical capacities of the most determined and courageous. [Illustration: RED DEER FIGHTING.] The WAPITI, the PERSIAN, the CASHMERIAN, and the BARBARY DEER resemble the Red Deer in almost every detail except size, the first and second being considerably larger. Their antlers all branch in the same manner, except that the proportionate sizes of some of the snags are apt to vary. Superb heads of Wapiti are numerous in Great Britain, with their brown beams and white burnished tips.