274 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



to stalk from below in such thick cover, even if the 

 breeze blows right. 



I squirmed my way to within perhaps two hundred 

 yards of my noisy friend — I could hear him burnishing 

 his antlers all the while. Slash ! Slash ! A thick belt 

 of mountain ash barred my progress ; I could not pene- 

 trate it. Utter silence fell. I knelt on the thick 

 carpet of moss, scarcely breathing. A woodcock, 

 lying close, snuggled closer, unable to rise from the 

 enshrouding tangle because of its length of wing. I 

 pretended not to notice the little bird, and presently 

 it was stilled to passivity again, and only its bright eyes 

 told me of its presence. It is very hard to distinguish 

 the male from the female woodcock ; the latter, perhaps, 

 is a little larger and the former a trifle darker, but 

 that is really all, for, as the birds grow older, the 

 peculiar marking of the outer wing feather, so notice- 

 able in the fledglings, goes altogether. 



For half an hour my stag and I played this silence 

 game, and then because I had no designs on his life, 

 and only asked to see him, I commenced working my 

 way round towards the end of the screen of ash, which, 

 I could see, thinned as the glade hollowed. 



As I looked about me and my eyes grew used to the 

 glare and brightness of the sun falling aslant across the 

 pinewood paths, I caught a glimpse of a grey wraith 

 ghding through the green, a beautiful picture of 

 repressed action, every nerve taut, horns laid well 

 back. So — stealthily — he passed. 



I had to retrace my steps carefully, or I should have 

 been bushed, for I had rambled farther than I knew. 



