42 HUNTING. 



should take up a convenient position at least an hour before 

 daybreak. The choice of position is most important, and 

 should be determined by the circumstances of the case. If 

 the cover should have, on its outskirts, a field of turnips, a 

 field of oats, a meadow, or other tempting feeding ground, the 

 position taken up ought to command as much of it as possible. 

 Some harbourers prefer climbing a tree, while others incline to 

 secreting themselves in a ditch for the purpose of making 

 observations. 



We will suppose that the harbourer is desirous of harbour- 

 ing a deer for the next morning in a wood of loo acres 

 covering a ravine, whose two slopes, running north and south, 

 are separated by a rapid stream, and whose ridges are bounded 

 by a vast expanse of moorland. On the south side, about 

 half a mile down stream, there is feeding ground, consisting of 

 a field of turnips ; a small inclosure partly covered with oats 

 and partly by old grass and rushes. 



This will prove difficult ground to survey. But the 

 harbourer must do his best. He goes to bed early that he 

 may not oversleep himself; but he cannot sleep for thinking 

 of to-morrow's work. The wind appeared unsteady over-night, 

 and his plan of approach may have to be altered. He must 

 not go down wind, for he may, by coughing or tripping 

 over a stone, and ejaculating compliments to nature, arouse 

 the alarm of the ever vigilant stag, whose exquisite scent- 

 ing powers would confirm them. The harbourer goes men- 

 tally over the ground, again and again ; surveys every path, 

 every little ridge, every tree, every point of vantage ; and 

 having exhausted each alternative that gives promise of an 

 unobserved approach, he falls asleep for an hour or two, 

 and then wakes with a start, impressed with a sense of fear 

 that daylight will be upon him before he can take up his 

 position. Very few minutes are devoted to his toilette. He 

 goes hurriedly downstairs, throws open the cupboard, cuts off 

 a crust of bread, which he stuffs into his pocket, and goes 

 straight to the shed, in which is an old pony, quite a local 



