OF TUFTING. 71 



over the moor, and a stranger in the bottom of a 

 deep wooded combe when hounds go away will 

 probably never see them again. Even when one 

 knows every available track in a covert, it is extra- 

 ordinary how easy it is to get " left." 



A deer has one striking peculiarity which makes a 

 great difference between the method of drawing a 

 covert for a stag from that of drawing for a fox. 

 The crack of a whip or a cheer makes a fox put his 

 head up to listen, and probably also to move. A 

 stag puts his nose on the ground, lays his antlers 

 along his back, and lies absolutely still. The more 

 noise you make in covert the closer will a deer lie. 

 Extraordinary instances have occurred of this. Miles 

 told the writer that he harboured a stag into a small 

 patch of covert which had been cut down a few years 

 before, and was growing up very thick. Arthur drew 

 it carefully twice, and reported it blank. Mr. Bisset 

 was shown the slot where the deer had gone in, and 

 went round the covert himself, and was satisfied the 

 deer had not come out. The pack was brought, 

 and again the w^ood w^as drawn blank, and as Arthur 

 rode back to the gateway, pushing his w^ay through 

 the scrub, his horse blundered right on to his nose 

 on top of the stag. 



In 1905, four stags were lying in some gorse bushes 

 close to Hinam Cross, and hounds were taken 

 thither while Goss rode forw^ard to rouse the stags, 

 but it was not till he pushed his cob right into the 

 bushes, and practically drove one of them out with 



