NEW ZEALAND DEER-STALKING 121 



pointer we had passed in the morning was a far better 

 head ; subsequent events, however, placed matters in 

 a different light. It was 4.30 by the time we had his 

 head off and had started down the hill, so we hurried 

 along, for the camp was some distance from the spot 

 where we intended to strike the valley, and the going 

 on the flat none of the best, being very swampy. 



When we had only a few hundred yards to go 

 before reaching the bottom of the hill a stag began 

 roaring in the gully beside us. There is no good in 

 throwing away chances, so we stopped for a moment 

 to have a spy. A small stag was revealed pouring 

 out his love- sick troubles to the world in general and 

 to us in particular, but his head was small and we 

 prepared to continue on our way. I was just shutting 

 my glass up before returning it to its case, when some 

 black specks scattered about a grassy slope three- 

 quarters of a mile away caught my eye. For a 

 moment I hesitated, thinking that they were bushes. 

 Then one of the specks moved and I turned my glass 

 on them. About a dozen hinds were scattered about 

 a little basin, and in the middle of them a fine stag 

 with a spread that in that light looked enormous. 

 In the early morning and late evening it is a very 

 difficult matter to judge a stag's horns correctly ; 

 they appear much bigger than they really are and 

 I have been let in once or twice in this way. One 

 of the worst walks I ever had in my life was after 

 stalking a beast which I should never have troubled 

 about had I seen him in the middle of the day. How- 



