THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 37 



such, but comes under one of three heads, " stalking," 

 which is here generally termed still-hunting, where the 

 animal is followed by his sign, left on the soil, or on the 

 trees and coppice which he may have frayed, by the aid 

 of the eye and experience in woodcraft and the habits of 

 the quarry alone, without the assistance of hounds 

 " stable-stand," where the sportsman, taking his station at 

 the intersection of deer-paths, at a haunted salt-lick, or at 

 a well-ascertained watering place, awaits the voluntary 

 advent of the animal, when he shall be impelled to move 

 by the solicitation of his own instincts or, lastly, " dog- 

 draw," where, posting himself, as before, in such place as 

 he judges likely to be passed by the fugitive, the shooter 

 expects its coming when driven by slow hounds, who have 

 drawn for it, and aroused it from its lair, under the 

 guidance of his servants or companions. 



The last terms " dog-draw " and " stable-stand," have 

 long ceased to be sporting words in England, those 

 methods of taking game having long fallen into disuse as 

 sport ; and the latter being practised rarely by the park- 

 keeper, only in killing the half-tame fallow deer for the 

 table an animal, which is no more looked to for sport, or 

 regarded as a beast of chase, than a south-down sheep, or 

 a fatted calf. 



They were, however, common in the olden time, when 

 a large portion of Great Britain was still covered with the 

 natural forest, in which the wild animals roamed nearly 

 unmolested, preserved by rigorous forest statutes, and 

 obtainable only as game for the table, by shooting them, 

 in one of the two methods described, with the cross-bow, 



