"All this shows that the deer at the time this drawing was made must have had very good feeding and come to maturity quickly, like modern park deer. The big stag would never have allowed a ten-pointer in his herd if the latter had been an old stag.
"As to the action of the leading hind. I think she is a hind-calf by her legs, and is jumping with all four legs together, the way young deer do when playing, and, being young, is paying no attention to the danger behind, but is full of life, like a horse playing about when he is fresh. One often sees the calves of a herd playing like this if the herd is moving along steadily....
"From the position of the hind legs of the little calf I judge that she is jumping with all four legs together (the jump from which the expression 'buck jumping' comes); her tail would be curled up tight over her back like a pug dog carries it, only without the curl, and her ears pricked forward. The piece of horn broken off would show the rest of the hinds and calves, led by an old 'yeld' (i.e., barren) hind, who would be leading the herd up wind with her nose and ears forward to 'get the wind' of any danger ahead.
"The day is a hot one in the middle of August, shown by the big stag blowing and his being with the hinds, instead of with other stags by themselves, and by his not having 'run' yet, though his horns are clear of velvet. He is most likely the stag on whose horn this is engraved. The length of the deer's feet shows that they live on ground which is soft and not many stones about to wear down their toes.
"Maybe the fish indicate that the deer are crossing a shallow ford, and the salmon are getting frightened and jumping. The right-hand-most fish is just in the attitude of a hooked salmon trying to leap clear of the fly....
"The picture was most likely first drawn on some flat flexible surface, skin or bark, in a sticky medium, and then transferred to the horn by rolling it round the horn and then rubbing it. This would give a transfer, which would guide the subsequent engraving, otherwise it would be very difficult to engrave direct on the horn, and mistakes could not easily be corrected.
"Walter Winans
"Surrenden Park, Pluckley, Kent
With regard to the six fishes in the picture of "The Three Red Deer," I think that there can be little doubt that they are put in in the same spirit of exuberance which induced early Italian masters to introduce a cherub wherever a space for him could be found. The fish represented are the same in each case, and are undeniably salmonids. Presumably they are drawn on a larger scale than the deer. Their markings and the form of the head are deserving of some criticism and comment by those who are familiar with fish as seen by the fisherman. Probably the artist's friends at Lourdes captured fish in those days by spearing them with serrated bone-headed fish spears or harpoons (Fig. 3). No fish hooks of bone have been found in the cave of Lortet or in others of like age, although needles and whistles of bone and other useful little instruments, as well as serrated spear heads and harpoons have been obtained in several of them.