CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 95 



meet in couples, and were secured by means of a rope 

 passed through the rings of the couples, until the 

 tufters had separated the deer and the time for laying 

 on the pack had arrived ; this was technically called 

 ' harling.' The practice has of late years been com- 

 pletely discontinued, but I am by no means sure 

 that it might not be revived with great advantao-e.* 

 The time that elapses between the ' rouse ' of a 

 deer and the lay on is often very considerable, in 

 consequence of the distance between the place in 

 which the hounds are shut up and the covert in 

 which the deer is found. It is necessary, too, before 

 the pack is let out, to have reliable information as to 

 the age and size of the deer roused ; whether he be 

 ' warrantable ' or not ; and as we have no electric 

 telegraph wherewith to communicate, our trust has 

 sometimes to be reposed on a mounted messenger, 

 who, when the coverts are large and deep, may 

 have to ride over five or six miles of difficult ground 

 before he can reach head-quarters. In the days of 

 Sir Thomas Acland (the grandfather of the present 

 baronet) some of the servants were furnished with 

 French horns. These men were stationed at differ- 

 ent spots round the covert, and gave notice that a 



* The system is adhered to in the New Forest, where, however, tlie 

 Chase is almost entirely that of the fallow deer. — L. J. B. 



