84 SPORT IN EUROPE 



rare examples met with are descended from a few couple that strayed 



from a certain estate when a storm had torn up the 



^ fence. Most of them are kept on private commons, or 



Deer. ^ ^ 



in the royal domains, and they move about very little. 



On the other hand, roedeer are plentiful, requiring only some 



wood or other of small extent and with a southerly aspect. The most 



amusing- way of hunting roebuck is to beat up the wood 

 Roedeer. 



with a couple of slow dogs. The animal, relying on its 



wonderful agility, takes a deal of beating, and the hounds make 



pleasant music until a shot ends the concert. I regret to say that this 



method is but little practised, for most of the roedeer killed in 



Belgium fall in the battues. 



The winter of 1890, so fatal to the red deer, was also terrible for 



the boar. They are still, however, pretty plentiful in the Ardennes, 



for, fortunately for them, sportsmen do not by any 

 Wild Boar. 



means succeed in shooting all they see. The fact is 



that the apparent easiness of a shot at fifteen or twenty paces at a 



beast of this size leads many a novice, particularly if a little excited, 



to miss. Formerly, in the snow more especially, when a boar was 



surrounded, the guns were posted round about and a dozen of the 



right kind of boarhounds were uncoupled. The beast at bay had then 



only two courses open to him : either he came out and was then shot ; 



or he faced the dogs, and was held down by them until the huntsman 



went in and finished him with the knife. Other times, other ways ! 



The best boar hunts are nowadays done by the societies. Everyone 



must have his chance of a shot, and so, when the members of the 



hunt are placed, a line of beaters marches through the wood. Thus 



