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ANIMALS OF 



In England, the hunting the stag and the 

 buck are performed in the same manner; the 

 animal is driven from some gentleman's park, 

 and then hunted through the open country. 

 But those who pursue the wild animal, have 

 a much higher object, as well as a greater 

 variety in the chase. To let loose a creature 

 that was already in our possession, in order 

 to catch it again, is, in my opinion, but a poor 

 pursuit, as the reward, when obtained, is only 

 what we before had given away. But to 

 pursue an animal that owns no proprietor, 

 and which he that first seizes may be said to 

 possess, has something in it that seems at least 

 more rational ; this rewards the hunter for 

 his toil, and seems to repay his industry. 

 Besides, the superior strength and swiftness 

 of the wild animal prolongs the amusement ; 

 it is possessed of more various arts to escape 

 the hunter, and leads him to precipices where 

 the danger ennobles the chase. In pursuing 

 the animal let loose from a park, as it is 

 unused to danger, it is but little versed in the 

 stratagems of escape ; the hunter follows as 

 sure of overcoming, and feels none of those 

 alterations of hope and fear which arise from 

 the uncertainty of success. But it is other- 

 wise with the mountain stag: having spent 

 his whole life in a state of continual appre- 

 hension; having frequently been followed, 

 and as frequently escaped, he knows every 

 trick to mislead, to confound, or intimidate 

 his pursuers; to stimulate their ardour, and 

 enhance their success. 



Those who hunt this animal have their pe- 

 culiar terms for the different objects of their 

 pursuit. The professors in every art take a 

 pleasure in thus employing a language known 

 only to themselves, and thus accumulate 

 words which, to the ignorant, have the ap- 

 pearance of knowledge. In this manner, the 

 stag is called the first year, a calf, or hind calf '; 

 the second year, a knobber; the third, a brock ; 

 the fourth, a stag-guard; the fifth, a stag; the 

 sixth, a hart. The female is called a hind; 

 the first year she is a calf; the second, a 

 hearse; the third, a hind. This animal is said 

 to harbour in the place whpre he resides. 

 When he cries, he is said to bell; the print of 

 his hoof is called the slot; his tail is called 

 the single; his excrement the fewmct; his 

 horns are called his head: when simple, the 



first year, they are called broches ; the third 

 year, spears; the fourth year, that part which 

 bears the antlers is called the beam, and the 

 littleimpressions upon its surface, glitters; those 

 which rise from the crust of the beam are 

 called pearls. The antlers also have distinct 

 names ; the first that branches off is called 

 the antler; the second, the sur-antler; all the 

 rest which grow afterwards, till you come to 

 the top, which is called the crown, are called 

 royal antlers; the little buds about the tops are 

 called croches. The impression on the place 

 where the stag has lain, is called the layer 

 If it be in covert or a thicket, it is called his 

 harbour. When a deer has passed into a 

 thicket, leaving marks whereby his bulk may 

 be guessed, it is called an entry. When they 

 cast their heads, they are said to mew. When 

 they rub their heads against trees, to bring off 

 the peel of their horns, they are said to fray. 

 When a stag hard hunted takes to swimming 

 in the water, he is said to go sail; when he turns 

 his head against the hounds, he is said to bay; 

 and when the hounds pursue upon the scent, 

 until they have unharboured the stag, they 

 are said to draw on the slot. 



Such are but a few of the many terms used 

 by hunters in pursuing of the stag, most of 

 which are now laid aside, or in use only 

 among the gamekeepers. The chase, how- 

 ever, is continued in many parts of the coun- 

 try where the red deer are preserved, and still 

 makes' tlie amusement of such as have not 

 found out more liberal entertainments. In 

 those few places where the animal is perfectly 

 wild, the amusement, as was said above, is 

 superior. The first great care of the hunter, 

 when he leads out his hounds to the mountain 

 side, where the deer are generally known to 

 harbour, is to make choice of a proper stag 

 to pursue. His ambition is to unharbour the 

 largest and the boldest of the whole herd ; 

 and for this purpose he examines the track, 

 iftherebe any,whichifhe finds long and large, 

 he concludes, that it must have belonged to a 

 stag, and not a hind, the print of whose foot 

 is rounder. Those marks also which he 

 leaves on trees, by the rubbir.g of his horns, 

 show hi* size, and point him out as the pro- 

 per object of pursuit. Now to serk out a 

 stag in his haunt, it is to be observed, that he 

 changes his manner of feeiling every month. 



