54 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



a good many miles, but when it is made he should 

 have in his mind a tolerably complete list of all the 

 deer "using" the woods, and be able to form a 

 shrewd guess where they will be lying, for deer use 

 the same beds year after year. 



The stag is a much daintier feeder than a hind or 

 young male deer, and the older he gets the more 

 fussy he becomes about his food. It is hard to put 

 in an intelligible form the hundred and one minute 

 signs which a skilful harbourer reads like a book, 

 and can explain to you when on the spot. 



Hinds jump into a field with more boldness, and 

 some of them are sure to put down their noses and 

 begin to feed at once, feeding greedily in a patch 

 and clearing everything up as it comes. A stag will 

 probably walk about the field till he finds the choicest, 

 most succulent grass, the fullest ears of corn, and the 

 biggest turnips ; then he only takes the best, and 

 mostly keeps on moving forward, plucking an ear, or, 

 rather, the tip of an ear here and a tip there, for he 

 disdains any but the juiciest part at the top. A hind, 

 on the contrary, will eat the whole ear and a good 

 deal of the stalk. A hind eats away at a turnip till 

 it is finished, or nearly so, taking but small bites at a 

 time, just as a sheep does. A stag having a bigger 

 mouth and stronger neck takes a bigger bite, and in 

 most cases tears up the turnip by the root, and with 

 a jerk of his strong neck breaks off what he has got 

 in his mouth, and throws away the rest. He then 

 takes the next turnip straight in front, and his 



