Stable, s. A house for beasts. Vide Appendix.
Stack, s. A large quantity of hay, corn, or wood.
Stag, s. The male red deer; the male of the hind.
The stag or hart, whose female is called the hind, and the young a calf, differs in size and in horns from a fallow deer. He is much larger, and his horns round, whereas, in the fallow species, they are broad and palmated. By these the animal’s age is ascertained. During the first year the stag has no horns, but a horny excrescence, which is short and rough, and covered with a thin hairy skin, the next year the horns are single and straight, in the third they have two antlers, three the fourth, four the fifth, and five the sixth year, but this number is not always certain, for sometimes there are more, and often, less. After the sixth year the antlers do not always increase, and although in number they may amount six or seven on each side, yet the animal’s age is then estimated rather from the size of the antlers, and the thickness of the branch which sustains them, than from their variety. These horns, large as they seem, are, notwithstanding, shed every year, and new ones assume their place. The old horns are of a firm solid texture, and are extensively employed in making handles for knives and other instruments. But, while young, nothing can be more soft or tender, and the animal, as if conscious of his own imbecility, at those times, instantly upon shedding his former horns, retires from the rest of his species, and hides himself in solitudes and thickets, never venturing out to pasture except by night. During this time, which most usually happens in the spring, the new horns are very tender, and have a quick sensibility of any external impression. When the old horn has fallen off, the new one does not begin to appear immediately, but the bones of the skull are seen covered only with a transparent periosteum or skin, which covers the bones of all animals. After a short time, however, the skin begins to swell, and to form a sort of tumour, which contains a great deal of blood, and then it is covered with a downy substance, that to the touch resembles velvet, and which appears of nearly the same colour with the rest of the animal’s hair. This tumour daily increases from the point, like the graft of a tree, and, rising by degrees from the head, shoots out the antlers from either side, so that in a short time, in proportion as the animal is in condition, the entire horns are completed, but it should be observed, that the substance of which the horns are composed, begins to harden at the bottom, while the upper part remains soft and still continues growing; whence it appears that the horns of deer grow differently from those of sheep or cows, which latter always are seen to increase from the bottom. When, however, the horns have completed their full growth, the extremities then acquire solidity. The velvet-like covering, with its blood-vessels, dries up, and the former then begins to fall, and this the animal hastens by rubbing its antlers against the trees of the forest. In this manner the whole external surface being stripped off by degrees, the horns acquire their complete hardness, expansion, and beauty. It is also said that some hinds have horns.
It would be a vain task to inquire into the cause of the annual production of these horns; it is sufficient to observe, that if a stag be emasculated when the horns are fallen off, they will never grow again; and, on the contrary, if the same operation is performed when they are on, they will never fall off. If only one side is emasculated, he will want the horn on that side.
The old stags usually shed their horns first, which generally happens towards the latter end of February or the beginning of March.
Such as are between five and six years old shed their horns about the middle or latter end of March; those still younger in the month of April; and the youngest of all not till the middle or latter end of May.
They generally shed them in pools of water, whither they retire from the heat, and this has given rise to the opinion of their always hiding their horns. These rules, though true in general, are yet subject to many variations, and it is well known that a severe winter retards the shedding of the horns. A short time after they have gained their horns, they begin to feel the impression of the rut.
The old ones are the most forward, and about the end of August or beginning of September, they quit their thickets and return to the mountain or plain in order to seek the hind, to whom they call with a loud tremulous note. At this time their neck is swollen—they appear bold and ferocious—fly from country to country—strike with their horns against the trees and other obstacles—and continue restless and fierce until they have found the female, who at first flies from them, but is at last overtaken.