8x The hooie of Hunting 



lune rather than in any other feafon of the yeare : for afmuchas 

 in thofe monethes they go not much to the water, but content 

 themfelueswiththemoyftureof the dewe and the earth, the which 

 fuffizeth them : but in luly and Auguft when the wood harden- 

 eth, and the heate is vehement, then they mufte needes difcouer 

 themfelues and come out of their holdes to go vnto the water. 

 NeuerthelefTe, in what feafon foeuer it be, they cannot hide them- 

 felues aboue foure dayes, but that they mufte come out of the 

 thickets, and that for fundrie caufes : whereof one is, that they will 

 go to fee where other Deare do lie, by whom they hope to finde 

 fafegarde : for if they fhould be hunted they woulde flee among 

 them for change, that fo the houndes might be deceyued : or els 

 fometimes they come foorth to go to their feede. NeuerthelefTe 

 when they do fo, they retire into their holdes two or three houres 

 before day. To preuent fuch craftie and fubtile Deare, the Huntf- 

 man muft vfe this manner : Firft when he is in a fayre thicke or 

 couert at the ende of a Forreft, and chanceth to finde the flotte of 

 an Harte, beyng old trodden, as a day or two before, and that the 

 grounde is much broken with fuch old trackes, then he muft caft 

 and beate all the outlides : and if perchaunce he neither finde him 

 to haue gone out nor in, either lately, or of old, then may he well 

 thinke that he goeth not out, and that he hideth and concealeth 

 himfelf within the thickes : then let him get him vnder y* wind, 

 and let him go into the thickes, holding his hounde fliorte, creep- 

 ing as fecretely as he can : and if he perceyue that his hounde 

 haue any thing in winde, and that by his countenance and gefture 

 it fhould be like that he is not farre from the Harte, then let him 

 withdrawe and retyre himfelf for feare leaft he rowze him, and 

 let him go in at fome other fide of the woodde where it is not fo 

 thicke : then if he chance to finde any little hewtes or fpringes 

 priuily copfed within the thicke, where the Harte may feede by 

 night, he may fearch it fayre and well, and take vpthe fewmifli- 

 yngs which he findeth. But here mufte you note one thing, that 

 is, that he may not go into fuche places, vntill it be nine of the 

 clocke in the mornyng, bicaufe fuch Hartes do fometimes take 

 herbrough or layre within thofe little Copifles, to enioy the com- 



forte 



