286 MEMOIR OF 



one, but you see he has pushed up the hind 

 and gone down, and we must have him up 

 again. So the tufters are stopped again, and 

 sent back on heel ; and by-and-bye that un- 

 mistakable ' yell ' which announces a view is 

 heard, and this time the antlered monarch 

 reveals himself to the whole of the assembled 

 multitude." 



Then again, on the water, which almost 

 invariably is the last refuge of a deer in dis- 

 tress, the countless wiles he will adopt to elude 

 his pursuers have been so often witnessed by 

 Russell, that it is no figure of speech to say 

 he was familiar w4th them all. More than sixty 

 years of experience, the keenest observation, 

 and a thorough acquaintance with the habits 

 of the animal, at least in chase, gave him a 

 power which, when appealed to, generally 

 proved more than a match for the craftiest 

 stratagem practised by a deer. 



In early days, when Russell kept his otter- 

 hounds at South Molton, and earned the grati- 

 tude of all fiy-fishermen in that country by 

 ridding the rivers of hve-and-thirty otters in a 

 couple of seasons, he must have learned many 

 a useful lesson in studying the watery ways of 

 those mysterious animals. The subtlety of their 

 habits, when closely pressed by hounds, must 

 have shown him how marvellous is the power 

 of instinct to elude pursuit, if life be at stake. 



