CHAPTER VII. 



Deer formerly found in South Devon and Cornwall, at Bagshot, and 

 in the New Forest — Now Exterminated — Answers to objections 

 to hunting- Deer in Autumn — A few words on Scent — Exmoor 

 Ponies — Poaching — Caution against encouragement of the 

 Poaclier— Heads of Deer preserved at the Residences of Masters 

 of Staglioiinds. 



In the preceding chapters of this narrative I have 

 traced, imperfectly I am aware, but faithfully to the 

 best of my ability, the history of stag-hunting in 

 North Devon and Somerset, from the earliest period 

 at which any record of the sport is to be found. 

 There was a time when the hills and vales of 

 South Deven echoed the notes of the stagr-hunter's 

 horn ; and history could tell how many a good 

 stag, found on the southern slope of the Dart- 

 moor Hills, gave up his life in Torbay, or took 

 soil in the rippling streams of the Dart. But the 

 progress of civilisation, increase in population, and 

 modern improvements in farming, with the con- 

 sequent inclosure and cultivation of tracts of land 

 once waste and quiet, have combined in effecting 



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