200 



CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



whiche vvil not hunte so wel in those windes as they 

 do at other times.' ^ 



Deer, when hunted, have this pecuHarity, which 

 deserves notice, viz., that they generally run sidling* 

 up hill, rarely or never ascending it perpendicularly, 

 unless when ' embost ' or run-up, when they try to 

 do so as a last effort, and after a short time give up 

 the attempt and descend again into the valley. My 

 attention was first called to this in the year 1820, by 

 the late Mr Boyse, and I have frequently since saved 

 my horse a fruitless gallop up hill at the end of a 

 chase, by noticing that the deer has faced the steep 

 instead of taking his course upwards along the side 

 of it. In descending a hill a deer almost invariably, 

 unless greatly pressed, takes an oblique course, and 

 in so doing passes over the ground at great speed. 



It has never been my fortune to see Mr Charles 

 Davis cheering Her Majesty's ' buckhounds ' on 

 their game, and at my time of life I can hardly 

 anticipate that an opportunity of doing so is in 

 store for me. It has occasionally happened that in 

 our country a deer has been obtained for the purpose 

 of amusing the populace at a fair hunt, or some 

 such event. I have rarely witnessed sport on such 

 occasions, nor do I much care if I never see another 



* 'Art of Venerie,' p. 122. 



