A really big stag is nearly always found alone, or should he have a companion, the second will also be an animal of large size. Such stags are never seen with hinds, excepting in the autumn (celo).

The system of the montería, or mountain-drive, is described in detail in the following chapter.

TABLE OF SPANISH IBEX HEADS
Measured by the Authors, or other stated Authority.
Locality.Length.Width.Circum-
ference.		Authority.
Tips.Inside.
ins. ins. ins. ins.
Moréna 33½ ... ... ... Marq. Mérito (p. 158).
Pyrenees 31 26½ ... 8¾ Sir V. Brooke.
Neváda 29¾ 22¼ 20⅞ 8¼ At Madrid.
Grédos[26] 29¼ 23¼ ... 9½ Authors.
Do. 29⅛ 23⅛ 21 9⅞ M. Amezúa.
Do. 29 22½ ... 9¼ Authors.
Pyrenees 29 23 ... 10 Sir V. Brooke.
Neváda[26] 29 23 18¾ 9 Authors.
Do. 28¼ 24½ 22 9⅟16 Do.
Moréna 28½ ... ... 8¼ Do.
Bermeja 28 19 ... 8¼ Do.
Moréna 26¾ ... ... ... Lord Hindlip.
Grédos 26½ ... 22⅛ 10⅛ At Madrid.
Pyrenees 26 21 ... 10 Sir V. Brooke.
Sa. Blanca 26 ... ... 8¾ P. Larios.
Grédos 24⅛ ... ... 8¼ Authors.
Pyrenees 22¾ 18¾ ... 9½ E. N. Buxton.
Sa. Blanca 22 ... 14 7¾ P. Larios.
Valencia 21¾ 16⅜ 17 7⅞ P. Burgoyne.

CHAPTER XV
SIERRA MORÉNA (Continued)
RED DEER AND BOAR

THE mountain deer of the Sierra Moréna are the grandest of their kind in Spain, and will compare favourably with any truly wild deer in Europe.[27] The drawings, photographs, and measurements given in this chapter prove so much, but no mere numerals convey an adequate conception of these magnificent harts, as seen in the full glory of life bounding in unequal leaps over some rocky pass, or picking more deliberate course up a stone stairway.

Massive as they are in body (weighing, say, 300 lbs. clean), yet even so the giant antlers appear almost disproportionate in length and superstructure.

The whole Sierra Moréna being clad with brushwood and jungle, thicker in places, but nowhere clear, shooting is practically confined to “driving” on that extensive scale termed, in Spanish phrase, montería.

Before describing two or three typical experiences of our own in this sierra, we attempt a sketch of the system of the montería as practised throughout Spain.