204 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



down, although when exhausted they turn their heads 

 to the cold air that serves to breathe new life into their 

 nostrils. Perhaps, if anything, they prefer to feel the 

 breeze blowing against their sides, but as to this there is 

 no more certainty than in their choice of ground. Other 

 wild animals go to the hill ; deer will constantly leave 

 it for the vale. I have seen them fly, straight as an 

 arrow, across a strongly enclosed country, and circle like 

 hares on an open down. Sometimes they will not run 

 a yard till the hounds are at their very haunches ; some- 

 times, when closely pressed, they become stupid with 

 fear, or turn fiercely at bay. " Have we got a good deer 

 to-day ? " is a question usually answered with the utmost 

 confidence, yet how often the result is disappointment 

 and disgust. Nor is this the case only in that phase of 

 the sport which may be termed artificial. A wild stag 

 proudly carrying his "brow, bay, and tray" over Exmoor 

 seems no less capricious than an astonished hind, en- 

 larged amongst the brickfields of Hounslow, or the rich 

 pastures that lie outstretched below Harrow-on-the-Hill. 

 One creature, familiar with every inch of its native 

 wastes, will often wander aimlessly in a circle before 

 making its point ; the other, not knowing the least 

 where it is bound, will as often run perfectly straight 

 for miles. 



