64 RED DEER. 



They soon open a gap in the hedge on 

 the top of the wall by going through so often, 

 night after night, always at the same spot, 

 and the step becomes well marked. By 

 this step in the wall the calf climbs up, and 

 follows his mother ; he could not spring on to 

 the top at once, and the hinds choose the best 

 places they can for their young to get over. 

 The pennyworts are crushed, the fern broken 

 down, and the red sand of the bank dug 

 out ; while on the top a gap — called a rack 

 — is formed through the beech hedge By 

 these racks the hinds and calves pass from 

 the moors into the cultivated fields. Near 

 the covers and coombes where the fern is 

 thick the deer pat lis are distinct. In hind- 

 hunting time the brake is bronzed, or brown 

 from frost ; it holds the dew, or the thawed 

 rime of the winter nights, and soaks those who 

 attempt to walk among it. As it rises 

 again in spring it helps to hide the dropped 

 antlers of the stag. 



The antlers fa 1 ! in March ; though so hard 



