HIND-HUNTING. 191 



hind ; they travel so much and so far as to 

 soon get thin. The hinds prefer the older 

 stags, and when two are fighting they will 

 sometimes approach and butt the one they 

 dislike behind, and the one they butt is gene- 

 rally beaten. It is said that stags rarely 

 fight twice. The conqueror is master of the 

 wood, and is accompanied by five or six 

 hinds. The stags in a cover soon know their 

 master, and yield ; the fighting is when a 

 strange stag arrives from a distant wood, 

 perhaps having come ten miles. There is 

 then a battle between the intruder and the 

 master of the copse. 



At this time a stag's neck becomes much 

 thicker, and is said to be very tough. Some 

 say that when a stag has won a battle, if a 

 man chance to be present he will run at him, 

 but the huntsman is of opinion that a stag 

 never attacks a man, not even at rutting-time. 

 Men are sometimes hurt in approaching a 



