334 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



you if it lasted long ; yet two such minutes and they 

 seem hours are worth whole ordinary days. 



The flutter and nervousness felt by him whose whole 

 heart is in the chase, when he first is in presence of 

 the stag, is a curious psychological phenomenon. The 

 Germans have a special name for this state, and call 

 it " Hirsch Fieber" (Stag fever). The excitement you 

 are in quite lames you. Of course it varies in degree 

 with different persons, according to temperament, and 

 the phlegmatic will probably never experience it at all. 

 In me it showed itself in the highest degree. When 

 I heard the rush of the stag among the branches, or saw 

 him approaching at a distance, my heart began to beat 

 audibly, my breath came quickly, every limb trembled, 

 and I felt half suffocated. To take a deliberate aim 

 was of course impossible, for my rifle rose and fell 

 like a bough swayed by the wind. But I remember 

 one instance in which a sort of magnetic influence 

 seemed to be exercised over me. I was waiting for 

 a stag on the edge of the covert. Presently I heard 

 something rustle, and the fever began ; but only a kid 

 leaped by, and I was calm again. Soon after I heard 

 the step of the stag, and in another second his majestic 

 head looked forth from the green branches. On he 

 came towards me, down a gentle slope, slowly and 

 unaware of my presence. The rifle had been raised 

 when first I heard his approach, and it was levelled 

 still; the hair-trigger was set, and a, breath almost 

 would have been sufficient to move the trigger; my 

 finger too was upon it, and I wished to pull, yet for 



