DEER IN SUMMER. 53 



He stood breast-deep in brake, and there 

 was a purple foxglove in flower just beside 

 him. There seemed the least possible fleck of 

 white among the golden russet of his side. 

 After I had looked long enough, a shout 

 sent him with one bound into the thicket ; 

 and although the boughs did not appear 

 very close together, he was immediately 

 hidden. He moved easily along the steep 

 slope where even hounds sometimes find a 

 difficulty in following. 



Some distance further I found another 

 footbridge made of a smoothed tree, and sat 

 down upon it at the verge of the brook. 

 Insects had emerged from the timber, leaving 

 their cases stretching forth from the mouths 

 of their drilled holes. The timber was fur- 

 rowed and gouged by the mandibles of 

 wasps, who had carried the wood away for 

 the paper of their nests. Ferns on the 

 bank, and conferva? on the rocky fragments, 

 gave the stream a green tint ; the reflection 

 of the oak boughs over did not form a clear 



