CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 197 



I may notice in this place, that as far as my 

 experience and observation go, deer, when pursued 

 by hounds, do not habitually run either up or down 

 wmd. Let the wind blow from whatever quarter 

 it may, a deer will make his point good for some 

 particular stream or covert which he knows well. 

 While the Brendon coverts were strictly preserved, 

 it was rare that a deer found on Horner did not go 

 straight across the moor to seek refuge in the woods 

 and thickets which he had been in the habit of 

 frequenting free from molestation. From the 

 Culbone Woods, where the deer are preserved by 

 the Earl of Lovelace, whose beautiful summer 

 residence, Ashley Combe, nesdes among the cliffs 

 overhanging the Channel, a stag will almost always 

 make his point for Badgeworthy or Horner, without 

 regarding wind in the slighest degree. Nor have 

 I observed any difference in this respect between 

 the running of a deer when fresh and when sinking 

 from fatigue. 



Mr Scrope says* that ' it is mentioned in a letter 

 printed by the late Lord Graves, who hunted the 

 wild deer in Devonshire, that these animals, when 



* ' Deerstalking,' p. 43, ed. 1839. The letter referred to was written 

 to the present Lord Fortescue, and printed for private circulation about 

 the vear 181 2. 



