From W. D. Crotch   14 November 1873

My dear Sir

I should have written before had not M^rs. Haliburton¹ told me that you were unwell. I hope that is not the case now & will tell you of the results of my enquiries respecting the Rendyr. The Stag very rarely loses both horns at the same time— often there is an interval of several days— so that although most magnificent horns are often found singly the pair might have to be sought 60 miles away— indeed any fright usually causes these timid creatures to run 20 miles at least. The hind retains her horns until she hides herself for calving—& reappears without them,—or, which is excessively rare, with one— Thus the time of calving & shedding the horns can be limited to about a fortnight—tho, this fortnight is, like Easter, a moveable feast.² I am not yet at the end of the Lemmings—³ They came in the winter on & under the snow— they must have started with the first fall & alternately traversed the surface for speed & tunnelled beneath for food—as I myself often saw them in the autumn of /72— The damage done by them was quite condoned by the subsequent extra-growth of grass where they had been— nearly every one, & certainly every old male & ♀ have a raw on the rump caused by their backing up against a stone

on the approach of even a fancied enemy—such as a Dipper on a stone or a ring ousel. They swim all the lakes but drown with the least wind. & tho’ they are tenacious of life they die with a mere tap on the nose— I left thousands on the snow in Oct^r. /72—& in May /73 there were none, & but few skeletons—so that the bulk had gone elsewhere to die. Now, if you are not weary I want to ventilate a new theory & as briefly as possible—but not about the Lemmings.

—My dog (& a hundred others) goes 70 miles with me for the first time—runs away & returns home by a quite⁴