34 DEFENSIVE POWERS OF THE 11ED DEER. 



but his Grace escaped the danger by sending a ball through 

 his forehead. This, as I have said, is the only instance I 

 ever heard of an offensive attack upon man by deer upon 

 the wild mountains; and it must be observed, that the 

 animal here in question was rendered furious by the dog, 

 and by the pain of his wound. It is, however, at all times 

 dangerous to approach a wounded deer too nearly, for in 

 self-defence he would not hesitate to kill any living thing 

 that came within reach of his pointed antlers. An instance 

 is recorded of a red deer having beat off a tiger, which was 

 set loose upon it in an enclosed arena, at the instance of 

 William Duke of Cumberland. But if stags in such wild 

 regions stand in awe of man, they have not always the 

 same respect when they become more familiar with him. 



" Some years ago," says Gilpin, " a stag in the New 

 Forest, pressed by the hunters, and just entering a thicket, 

 was opposed by a peasant, who foolishly, with his arms 

 extended, attempted to turn him. The stag held his 

 course, and darting one of his antlers into the man, carried 

 him off some paces, sticking upon his horn : the man was 

 immediately conveyed to Lymington, where he lay danger- 

 ously ill for some time, but at length recovered." I have 

 heard also that when the Duke of Bedford was lord-warden 

 of the forest, his huntsman had a horse killed under him by 

 a stag, which he crossed in the same imprudent manner. 

 "We read" (saith the editor of the Noble Art of 

 Venerie) " of an emperor, named Batels, who had done 

 great deeds of chivalrie in his country, and yet was never- 

 theless slayne with a hart in breaking of a bay." 



But a recent instance occurred in October 1836, of the 

 ferocity of a red deer when confined in a park, which, 



