THE HUNTED STAG. 169 



is aware by the way the stag runs if he is 

 in known or new ground. In the rutting 

 season October stags travel afar, and when 

 chased next year are thought to sometimes 

 follow the paths they then found out. Stags 

 are run occasionally from Dunkery to the 

 Quantock Hills across a wide belt of culti- 

 vated country, probably having visited the 

 Quantocks in the rutting time. Upon the 

 Quantocks there is a herd of red deer kept 

 in an enclosed park. 



Before now the wild hunted deer has 

 passed right through this park herd, but 

 the hounds, though the park-kept deer were 

 around them and visible, did not quit the 

 original scent, following their quarry, and 

 taking it. The power of scent of hounds is 

 very great ; they will follow a stag through 

 hinds, or, in the hind season, a hind through 

 stags, without losing the original trail. Some 

 think that the deer have observed that they 



