140 RED DEER. 



his after-course depends upon his individual 

 knowledge of the country. The hounds 

 frequently force stags into districts with 

 which they are unacquainted, and the hunts- 

 man is aware by the way the stag runs if 

 he is in known or new ground. In the 

 ruttins; season — October — stags travel afar, 

 and when chased next year are thought to 

 sometimes follow the paths they then found 

 out. Stags are run occasionally from Dun- 

 kery to the Quantock Hills across a wide 

 belt of cultivated country, probably having 

 visited the Quantocks in the rutting time. 

 Upon the Quantocks there is a herd of red 

 deer kept in an enclosed park. 



Before now the wild, hunted deer has 

 passed right through this park herd, but the 

 hounds, though the park-kept deer were 

 around them and visible, did not quit the 

 original scent, following their quarry, and 

 taking it. The power of scent of hounds is 

 very great ; they will follow a stag through 

 hinds, or, in the hind season, a hind through 



