112 THE RED DEER OE EXMOOR. 



then it would be impossible to tell which was the 

 hind that had been harboured ; moreover any full- 

 grown hind — that is, three years old and upwards — 

 is suitable for hunting, so that the prime cause for 

 harbouring, namely, the necessity of selecting the 

 best deer, is absent in hind-hunting. Some local 

 farmer is sure to be able to tell the huntsman where- 

 abouts the hinds are lying, and that is really all that 

 is wanted. The only thing to be done is to 

 rouse the herd, break it up, and lay the pack on the 

 first full grown hind that goes away alone, or only 

 accompanied by her calf. At first sight this would 

 seem to involve much risk of chopping the calf. But 

 in practice this is not so ; the hind has never gone 

 far before she makes her calf lie down in some bush 

 ■or ditch, where it lies still even though hounds run 

 within a yard of it. It may be one of the protective 

 provisions of Nature that a calf in such circum- 

 stances has no scent. Certain it is that though the 

 pack is laid on day after day close after hinds, 

 regardless of their calves, it is an extremely rare 

 thing for hounds to chop a calf, and usually when a 

 poor innocent comes to grief it is later on in the run 

 when the pack comes accidentally across a calf 

 whose dam has not stowed him safely away. The 

 €alf by the middle of November, when hind-hunting 

 begins, is quite able to feed and take care of itself, 

 though it would probably continue to run with its 

 mother till a new little brother arrived on the scene. 

 The existence of the calf has, however, a very 



