98 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



not to halloa. That is the question." The answer 

 is, " Don't, unless you are quite sure." 



Pages have been written in the old books to enable 

 one to recognise a beaten deer, and they are all true, 

 and for the most part unnecessary, for they simply 

 detail the ordinary signs of exhaustion in a large 

 animal. Anyone can tell that a stag which reels in 

 his gait, stops to blow with his head down, and then 

 goes on taking no notice of anything near him is a 

 beaten deer. What one wants to know is, which is 

 the hunted stag when, at the end of forty minutes, 

 two or three stags all break from one covert. This 

 is by no means easy. Experience teaches those who 

 are at the work continually, but it is next door to 

 impossible to set down on paper any fixed rules. 

 There are, however, a few things worth noticing. 

 When a stag has run half an hour or more he is sure 

 to be sweating somewhat ; in addition, he is sure to 

 have treated himself to a roll in the water ; hence his 

 coat will be wet, and probably muddy. This is not 

 infallible, as deer will often take a mud bath to keep 

 off the fiies. All one can say is that a deer with a 

 clean coat and every hair standing out separately is 

 sure to be a fresh deer. 



A deer which has run some distance hangs his 

 tongue out a long way, in fact, as far as it will go. 

 A perfectly fresh deer does not do this, though he 

 may show the tip. But this, again, is not infallible, 

 for a stag on a hot day will put his tongue out after 

 he has gone a very short distance. 



