112 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



with which they pursued their game, even when 

 the scent had been stained by the deer passing 

 through a herd of his own species, or through 

 fallow deer in a park. Wonderful, indeed, was 

 the unerring instinct they displayed in carrying 

 on the scent, disregarding the lines, which, spreading 

 right and left around the track of the hunted deer, 

 would, it might well be supposed, have been fatal 

 to their power of keeping on the foot of their 

 quarry. Like all hounds I have ever seen hunting 

 deer in this country, they ran almost in a line one 

 after the other, not carrying a head, like foxhounds, 

 but each hound apparently revelling in the scent, 

 and doing his work for himself; not putting his 

 faith in his neighbour, but trusting to his own nose, 

 and to that alone. 



The importance of the two qualifications of stag- 

 hounds above mentioned, viz., sagacity in hunting 

 in the water, and staunchness in pursuing a hunted 

 deer through the herd and upon stained ground, 

 is well known to every man accustomed to the 

 sport. They are important, nay, indispensable, in 

 consequence of the habits of the deer : for a stag 

 is seldom, I might almost say never, roused without 

 ' taking soil ' in the course of the run, and he rarely 

 neglects the opportunity of seeking for safety 



