90 THE RED DEER OF EX MOOR. 



hunt at a foot's pace, and when there cannot be any- 

 possible need for hurry, that a cunning stag will 

 break back or away to one side, and if the huntsman 

 finds it necessary to cast right or left handed he has 

 to do so through a crowd of horses. 



A beaten stag will lie down or " quat " (the old and 

 still locally used term) just like a hare, and trust to 

 hounds overrunning him. Especially will he do this 

 after soiling, well knowing that if hounds miss mark- 

 ing where he left the stream they will probably work 

 the water for a long way. A patch of blackberry 

 bushes is a favourite place to quat in, and the stag 

 will sometimes reach the desired spot by a huge 

 sideways leap. A stag did this, and put hounds off 

 for half an hour or more close to Horner Mill many- 

 years ago, jumping right over Lord Ebrington, when 

 a hound at last pushed him out. On another occasion 

 hounds were running over the enclosed country 

 between Willet and Huish Champflower, a strongly- 

 enclosed district with big banks, each carrying a 

 high thick growth on the top. Hounds checked in 

 the middle of a field, and could make nothing of it. 

 They tried round for nearly an hour, and at last, as 

 they were being trotted across the same field where 

 they threw up, a hound began to feather on what was 

 obviously the heel line. He ran back to the fence 

 where hounds had come over, slowly climbed the 

 bank and pushed his way along the top, and there, 

 right on the top of the bank, amidst the thick growth, 

 was the stag. We raced him nearly down to Huish 



