OF TUFTING. 73 



within a yeard of him and never vent him : and this 

 subtiltie doth nature endow him with — yt he knoweth 

 his breath and his feet to give him greater sent unto 

 the houndes than all the rest of his bodie. And 

 therefore at such time he will abide ye horsemen to 

 ride ful upon him before he will be reared." 



How far the learned author of this classic work 

 may be correct in this theory as to the origin of scent 

 is open to argument, but it is common experience 

 that a deer that lies close, especially in a place where 

 the air is still, is very difficult to rouse. The harbourer 

 may be certain he is there, and hounds, by the way 

 they can be seen trying to wind him, will tell plainly 

 that a deer is somewhere not far off, and yet the 

 huntsman may have to try back again and again 

 before the opening challenge of a tufter is heard, and 

 at least half of an impatient field are thinking how 

 much better and quicker their own huntsman up the 

 country would have drawn the covert. 



Scent one can never lay down any rule about, and 

 with a deer it seems more inexplicable than with any 

 other animal. There happens occasional!}^ a day — 

 fortunately but seldom — when hounds can run the 

 line of a hind, but cannot hunt a stag for fifty yards, 

 even when close behind him. A Cloutsham day in 

 the year 1903 was one of this kind — one of the few 

 bad days we had in that wonderful season. 



When deer have been harboured on the forest a 

 somewhat different course is pursued. 



The " forest of Exm.oor," or, rather, that portion 



