" collected in the midst of danger, and feeling little or no excitement 

 " as they watch the progress of the battle. Not so the sportsman. 

 " Each time he engages in his mimic war, his heart stirs within him, 

 " his pulses throb, and he goes through, over and over again, the 

 " agony if I may use the term, of suspense and anxiety that 

 " never fails to accompany him in the pursuit. When it does so 

 " fail, then has that man's day gone by. But this is a digression ; 

 " let us return to our sambur. 



"Notwithstanding his bold and dauntless look and bearing, there 

 " is 110 more timid animal in the world. Ever on the alert, for his 

 " enemies are so numerous, he takes the greatest precautions against 

 " surprise. If leaving his feeding ground to take refuge in a sholah, 

 " he will be observed to do so with the greatest care, snuffing the 

 " breeze, and perhaps after entering a wood, returning to the open 

 " to see that all is right in the neighbourhood. He often acts in a 

 " similar manner when about to bask in the open ; he will return to 

 " the summit of the hill over which he has just passed, and look 

 " back over the ground he has crossed, to see that all is safe. On 

 " these occasions he often forms his couch at the stem of one of the 

 " rhododendron trees that dot the hill-side here and there in the 

 " vicinity of his harbouring wood, or selects the warm side of some 

 " isolated rock below the crest of a hill. At such times, and in such 

 " places, it is often difficult to distinguish him ; and many a disap- 

 " pointment is experienced by the sportsman, seeing his long-looked- 

 " for quarry steal over the nearest slope and disappear from his 

 " anxious gaze ; the stag having all the time been watching the 

 " approach of the incautious stalker. Though timid as above stated, 

 " and at times apparently frightened to death at the cry of dogs, at 

 " others I have seen him, so to speak, run savagely or perhaps 

 " sulkily is the better term. It seems to occur when the dogs get 

 " on too good terms at starting. On these occasions I have seen the 

 " stag decline to lay himself out and flee for his life to the utmost of 

 " his speed : he appears more inclined to trust to his strength, 

 "Deserving his powers to injure his pursuers, instead of increasing 

 " his exertions to avoid them. A well known sportsman on these 

 " hills not very long ago witnessed a case of this kind, and to his 

 " horror beheld an old stag send his brace of deer hounds flying 



