i66 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



of deep feeling to his companions : ' D — 1 take the 

 old moon ; if she 'd have showed an hour earlier 

 we'd have killed our stag ! ' 



I do not propose to discuss at length the much- 

 vexed question of scent, or descant upon the oft 

 ventilated topic of wind and weather best suited to 

 hunting. I will not quarrel with those who hold that 



' A southerly wind and a cloudy sky 

 Proclaim a hunting morning.' 



But the result of my own experience is, that the 

 best scent is to be found when there is a little east 

 in the wind. A little east wind is in my judgment 

 the best for sport. A quiet north-east wind is fre- 

 quently better than a south-west wind. A wind due 

 east is, however, the worst of all. For hare-hunting 

 you cannot have the wind too quiet and lulled ; for 

 fox-hunting you require a little briskness and move- 

 ment in the air. You may hunt a deer successfully 

 in almost any state of wind or weather. I have 

 seen many splendid runs on a bright, still, gaudy day ; 

 and as many when the wind has been blowing 

 almost a hurricane, the deer caring nothing about it, 

 or rather enjoying it, and running for miles against 

 it. I have known the old staghounds stopped for 

 more than an hour during a thunder-storm ; yet 

 they acknowledged the scent when the storm was 



