THE CHASE OF THE WILD DEER. 155 



have when the field hardly get off the roads at all, 

 in the Dulverton country, for instance. 



Moreover, the hottest day of August generally 

 finds a cool breeze blowing over the heights of Ex- 

 moor, but I am told that in the New Forest the 

 heat and flies are sometimes unbearable during the 

 buck-hunting season. 



Exmoor, however, is very bleak and cold in winter, 

 which the New Forest is not. The latter, too, has 

 the great advantage for many people that the kennels 

 are only an hour from London, whereas to reach those 

 at Exford takes seven or eight. 



To those who are familiar with neither sport I 

 would say, " Try and see both." This is sport which 

 is older probably than any now followed in the world. 

 It is the same, and probably conducted very similarly, 

 to what it was when Norman William ruled the land. 

 Compared to it, fox-hunting, over which four and a 

 half millions are now annually spent in England, is a 

 thing of yesterday. Long may it flourish. 



