STAG-HUNTING 61 



remarked that the fox is monogamous, and that the 

 stag is polygamous ; also the stag carries a much 

 stronger scent than the fox, though he is his equal in 

 cunning, and infinitely superior to him in fleetness and 

 staying powers. The last two qualities demand a 

 larger hound than the ordinary fox-hound. Twenty- 

 live inches is the standard for a stag-hound, as against 

 twenty-three to twenty-three-and-a-half inches for a 

 fox-hound. Again, a stag-hound must possess more 

 stamina than a fox-hound, since the runs are longer and 

 the ground rougher. With hardly any exceptions, 

 stag-hounds are the fox-hound puppies which have been 

 rejected by the M.F.H. at the puppy show on account 

 of their size, but a hound that has once been entered 

 to fox or any other quarry is of no use to hunt stag. 



The two chief artifices which the stag makes use of 

 to elude pursuit are "to take soil" and "to run to 

 herd." By a curious anomaly, which we are unable to 

 explain, " to take soil " means to take to the water, and 

 by going up or down stream for some two hundred 

 yards, destroy his scent before taking again to the open. 

 When hard pressed a stag will even take to the sea. 

 " To run to herd " means to push up another stag out 

 of covert and lie close, on the chance of hounds hunting 

 the disturbed stag. The most trustworthy hounds are 

 constantly deceived by this stratagem, and it requires 

 the utmost vigilance of the huntsman to discern it. 

 When the stag is finally brought to bay he will get his 

 back against the bank or a rock in a stream, and woe 

 betide the hound who comes within reach of his horns. 

 The older hounds take the matter very quietly, for they 

 know the cowp dc grace will be administered by the 

 knife. Two men seize the horns, and a third — the 

 huntsman, if he be up — cuts the jugular vein. The 



