THE HUNTED STAG. 139 



do not desire to labour so hard can see 

 much of the run without any special stress 

 of riding by keeping to the upper ground, 

 and crossing the chord of the arc which the 

 stag travels. 



He usually runs in a circle towards the 

 close, and the hunt can be intercepted by 

 crossing it. Stags in particular districts have 

 their favourite routes, and generally take 

 the same line ; so much is this the case, that, 

 the meet being fixed, an old sportsman can 

 predict the course the stag will probably 

 follow, and even the time the hounds will 

 return to kennel. There are now, however, 

 so many outlying deer, and the deer-country 

 has become so extended of recent years, 

 that it is difficult to say what line a stag 

 may take when the meet is outside the 

 ancient limits It is supposed that a stag 

 takes the course he has been accustomed to 

 follow at night- 

 He almost always starts on a well-known 

 path, and follows it for some distance, and 



