88 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



propertie that if he go to feede in a yong spring 

 or coppes, he goeth first to seek the winde, that 

 he may finde if there be any person in the coppes 

 which may interrupt him ; ' and that it is essential 

 that he should go up wind when engaged in dis- 

 covering the whereabouts of a deer. There has 

 been no rain lately, and but little chance for any 

 but the most experienced eyes to track an animal 

 less heavy than an elephant over those clods of earth. 

 Suddenly the harbourer stops. There is a leaf 

 bent, a blade of orrass turned, or some siofn which 

 the adept in woodcraft can interpret, but which to 

 the senses of the uninitiated would be a closed 

 book. He looks carefully at the oat-stalks near. 

 From two or three the ear is gone, — bitten off, and 

 recently : that to his eye is clear, — but not by the 

 animal of which he is in search. These ears were 

 bitten off by a hind and not by a stag ; for Jem 

 knows well by long experience that a stag daintily 

 bites off but half the ear, or even less, while the 

 hind takes the whole. "^ He continues his walk, 

 but nothing further does he find in the oat-field 



* 'You may judge the hinde by hyr feede, because she croppeth the 

 springs rounde Hke an oxe, and feedeth greedily ; and contrarily the 

 hartc of tenne dothe take it dehcately, breaking it of endvvayes, to 

 have the hquor as swcctely and tenderly as he may.' — Art of Venerie, 

 p. 63. 



