OF THE STAG AND HIS NATURE. 21 



himself up, so that he perished miserably, and was 

 not found for months afterwards. 



It is rare for one stag to kill another outright, but 

 this happened in 1905 to a stag in the coverts above 

 Timberscombe. 



A deer with plenty of range and the society of the 

 other sex is practically harmless, but it is far other- 

 wise with a stag kept in close confinement. A 

 farmer who brought one up from its birth and made 

 a pet of it, was gored by it when the rutting season 

 of its fourth year set in, and had the narrowest 

 escape. Nothing but the presence of a friend with 

 a gun saved the life of one of the best agriculturists 

 in West Somerset. 



A stag was brought up many years ago by Dr. 

 Clarke, of Lynton, almost from its birth, in a paddock, 

 and was considered quite tame ; but when a party of 

 visitors went to look at it, and an usher from Mine- 

 head School, in response to the wish expressed by a 

 young lady to see it run, climbed over the paling and 

 rattled his hat, the stag promptly went for him, and 

 finally tossed him, badly hurt, over the railings, after 

 tearing off so much of his clothes that he had to be 

 rolled up in a lady's shawl before he could be con- 

 veyed back to the town. 



Some years ago, as people were going back from 

 Exford to Dulverton after a day's hunting late in 

 October, they found a big stag had taken possession 

 of the road just by Spire Cross, and was " belling 

 and carrying on terrible, scorting up the stones with 



