126 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



night. Need I explain that the male, female, and 

 young of the red - deer are correctly described as 

 stags, hinds, and calves ; while those of the 

 fallow - deer are known as bucks, does, and fawns 

 respectively. 



Those sportsmen, then, who wish to enjoy the 

 chase of the English wild deer can do so only by 

 resorting to one of the two districts 1 have referred 

 to. Having spent a season in each district, I pro- 

 pose to give a short account of the sport in both. 

 The Devon and Somerset being the better known 

 and more fashionable, I will commence with that 

 pack. 



I. THE DEVON AND SOMERSET STAG-HOUNDS. 



These hounds are a pack of great antiquity, but 

 a history of them would be beyond the scope of the 

 present chapter, so I will only refer those interested 

 in the matter to the many books on the subject — 

 such as Collyn's Chase of the Red Deer, Jefferies' 

 Red Deer Land, and others. Early in Queen 

 Victoria's reign the head of deer had got very 

 small, but by careful preservation it has now reached 

 such numbers that a hundred head and more can 

 be killed in a season without permanently affecting 

 the total. The usual number killed is from five-and- 

 twenty to thirty stags between August and October, 

 and twice that number of hinds between November 

 and March. It will thus be seen that the sport is 

 not likely to suffer from want of deer. There is, 

 however, another cause which is likely in time to 



