ANTLER AND FERN. 83 



colour is but little different from the grey 

 grass and dead branches. Or the heather 

 conceals the horn, and it is possible to walk 

 right over it without seeing it. 



An ardent forester who was racing on 

 foot after the hounds, the pack being in 

 full cry, caught his foot in descending a 

 coombe-side, and rolled some distance. He 

 supposed it was a furze stem, or a tree root, 

 but on rising he chanced to look at his foot, 

 and found it firmly fixed in a stag's antler. 

 He had trod, as he ran, right between the 

 two points on top, which threw him like a 

 trap, and over he went, carrying the horn 

 with him in his descent. So well had the 

 antler been concealed by the heather that 

 he had not seen it, and would not have 

 known of its existence had he not stepped 

 on it. It seems as if the antlers were more 

 often found by chance than when carefully 

 looked for, which has given rise to the idea 



