126 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



horn, and catches the sound of his able coadjutor's, 

 Arthur Heal's, shrill ' Hark together,' as he cheers 

 the eager hounds on their quarry. Not all his wiles, 

 his fleetness, or his cunning can save him from his 

 well-trained foes. I trust that the woods of Castle 

 Hill and Bratton, of Bray and Charles, and many a 

 covert long since abandoned, may again become the 

 favourite haunts of the deer. A little encourage- 

 ment to the sport must be shown, and the once 

 loved but now deserted coverts would again re-echo 

 the bell of the stag, which for many a long year has 

 been unheard in them. 



Having touched upon the packs of hounds that 

 have hunted the country since the revival (if I may 

 so term it) of stag-hunting, and adverted to the de- 

 struction of the deer in the parts of the country 

 in which, in days gone by, the herd roamed in 

 safety, I must now glance at the country in which 

 the deer are now principally met with, and over 

 which most of the chases in late years have taken 

 place. 



Destroyed in, or driven from, the more highly- 

 cultivated and thickly peopled parts of the country, 

 the greater part of the deer have now sought refuge 

 in the wilds of Exmoor, and on the deep and thick 

 woods surrounding that vast tract of land. Exmoor, 



