NEW ZEALAND DEER-STALKING 107 



ascent. The sorry figure touched the guide's heart. 

 Retracing his steps he cleared a little foothold on 

 the slide, and then remarked encouragingly, " Come 

 along, just put your foot there and you'll be all 

 right ! " 



His companion gave one piteous glance at the 

 rocks above, and then gasped out : " Do you take 

 me for a goat ? " 



That ended his stalking experiences. 



From our camp we could hear stags roaring con- 

 tinually, but never a one worth shooting showed 

 himself. Stags roar more in rough weather with 

 lots of wind and rain than at any other time, and 

 particularly in the early morning and late evening. 

 When lying down the roar is subdued and has a 

 moaning note, being altogether a lazier and more 

 muffled sound. When standing up to roar a stag 

 lowers his head below the line of the back, with 

 the neck stretched out and up ; when lying the 

 neck is pointed up, with the horns lying back over 

 the shoulders. Instead of a regular roar a stag 

 sometimes emits a succession of grunts. I once 

 watched a stag roaring through my glass at a distance 

 of about a hundred and fifty yards. He first put his 

 tongue out, and then drew it in until the tip rested 

 against the front teeth in his lower jaw. Then he 

 roared. He always did this before each successive 

 roar. They roared all night, stopping about 6.30 or 

 7 o'clock in the morning. As a rule, 10 o'clock 

 started them off for another hour. They were then 



