248 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



came in on him in the Haddeo, and raced him down 

 to Bury village, and killed him. 



August lyth. — The fixture was Braycross, and the 

 hounds were moved to Whitefield, a stag having been 

 harboured in Eastdown Wood ; the tufters found him 

 instantly, and the pack were laid on upon Muxworthy 

 Down ; he pointed as if for Bratton Down, but turned 

 up by Castlegate to Shoulsbury Castlehead, from this to 

 the Chains, and over Prayaway, and by Longcombe 

 reached Badgworthy Wood, and then broke on to Ore 

 Common ; passed down by the church, soiled in the 

 river below it, and broke over the enclosures to the 

 Linton road ; crossed it as if for Coscombe, but turned 

 by Yeanery to Culbone Wood and to Yarner Mill ; broke 

 from this to Parkwood and lay down. The tail hounds 

 fresh found him, and he came down to Hawkcombe, and 

 then up the water to Horner Green and on to Parsonage 

 Wood, the hounds all but viewing him ; he lay down 

 on some furze, and they came in on him ; he now sought 

 a rock, and from it bayed the pack for a considerable 

 time, and the sight was unusually grand. At length they 

 forced him from his vantage-ground and raced him back 

 to Horner Green, and down to Horner village, at which 

 place he was killed. He was at least fourteen years 

 old. 



September 21st. — The Barnstaple fair hunt, a holiday 

 for the foot people as well as horsemen ; both classes 

 congregate generally in great force. On this day, before 

 the hour appointed, they had disturbed a brace of stags 

 harboured in Tidecombe and Twitcham ; the tufters ran 

 the coverts for an hour; at length a stag broke up over 

 Thorne, and the pack was laid on ; he took them over 



