THE CHASE OF THE WILD DEER. 139 



To begin with, it is cultivated, and, therefore, closed 

 to horsemen in the stag-hunting season, as the crops 

 are not yet harvested. Even in winter it is unride- 

 able. This is not because the fences are high banks, 

 for such are habitually negotiated in Wales, Cornwall, 

 and parts of Ireland. Here, unfortunately, the banks 

 are crowned with high, stiff beech hedges through 

 which no horse can get. The deer and hounds easily 

 surmount these. No one who is not familiar with 

 the " deer racks " of Devon would believe through 

 what a small space a royal stag will slip. Meanwhile 

 the field are reduced to hopeless macadamising, and 

 pounding along roads, which generally follow the 

 bottoms of deep valleys, is a very different matter to 

 a gallop over the breezy moor. 



This being, then, the habitat of the deer, let us turn 

 to the means by which they are brought to bay, and 

 firstly to the hounds. These are thoroughbred fox- 

 hounds, drafted from all the packs in England. The 

 only reason for which they have been drafted, is that 

 they are too large for any English pack of foxhounds. 

 They are, in fact, the giants of the foxhound world. 

 In addition to their great size, they possess the 

 peculiarity of not having their ears rounded, or cut 

 short, according to the usual fashion. This gives 

 the head a nobler appearance. As is well known, 

 all hounds take readily to the scent of the deer, which 

 is very strong. I have frequently seen hounds run 

 hard on a scent which actual eye-witnesses could 

 prove to be an hour old. It is not one of the least 

 of the many mysteries of scent that what the old 



