and men ask him what head he beareth he may answer he bears a thick set head after his making, or that he hath low or small or other manner whatever it be. And if he see a hart that hath a diverse head, or that antlers grow back or that the head hath double beams or other diversities than other harts commonly be wont to bear, and men ask what head he bears, he may answer a diverse head or a counterfeit (abnormal), for it is counterfeited. And if he see a hart that beareth a high head that is wide and thin tined with long beams, if men ask what head he beareth, he shall answer a fair head and wide, and long beams, but it is not thick set neither well affeted. And if he see a hart that hath a low and a great and a thick set (head) and men ask what head he beareth, he may say he beareth a fair head and well affeted. And if men ask him by the head whereby he knoweth that it is a great hart and an old, he may answer, that the tokens of the great hart are by the head, and so the first knowledge is when he hath great beams all about as if they were set as it were with small stones, and the mules nigh the head and the antlers, the which are the first tines, be great and long and close to the mule and well apperyng (pearled) and the royals which are the second tines, be nigh the antlers, and of such form, save that they should not be so great; and all the other tines great and long and well set, and well ranged and the troching as I have said before, high and great, and all the beams all along both great and stony, as if they were full of gravel, and that all along the beams there be small vales that men call gutters, then he may say that he knows it is a great hart by the head. [178] The words in brackets are omitted in our MS. but are in the Shirley MS. and in G. de F. p. 132. [179] The tines at top. See Appendix: Antler. [180] Ever more is here a mistake; it should be never more. G. de F. says: "Mes jeune cerf ne froyera jà en gros arbre" (p. 132). Also in the Shirley MS. [181] Not of "good time" means in the old sporting vocabulary an old track, not a recent one. [182] G. de F. calls the track of deer on grass "_foulées_," from which the modern "foil," "stepping on grass," is derived. [183] A whole line is missing here in our MS. The words in brackets are taken from the Shirley MS. It runs: "Affter I wal telle yowe a man howe he shal speke amonge good hunters of y offyce of venerye." [184] The word "work" has been omitted. "Et bien _ouvrer_ subtilement" (G. de F. p. 134). [185] Brow, bay, and tray tines. See Appendix: Antler. [186] In Shirley MS. it is "left." [187] Instead of this original passage G. de F. says: "For if he had on one side ten points and on the other only one, it should be called summed of twenty" (p. 135). [188] G. de F. has "spur" instead. [189] Burr, mule, from the Fr. _meule_. [190] Dew claws. [191] According to Shirley MS. and the sense, the "iiii" should be omitted.