THE NEW FOREST DEER 85 



were some hounds. At first I got a draft or 

 two from the pack that hunted the deer. It 

 is difficult to improve on a well bred fox- 

 hound for any sort of work that a hound is 

 suited for, if once you train him to do what you 

 want. 



Just at that time I heard that the old strain 

 of bloodhounds kept for centuries at Bagot Park 

 were about to be given up, and I put in a word 

 for some of them. Lord Bagot very kindly gave 

 me what were left, and from these I set to work 

 to breed. Gradually I got together enough 

 hounds of sorts, to enable me to provide one for 

 each head keeper, and to keep two or three 

 myself; for I found that the work of keeping 

 down the deer was going to become a good deal 

 more than I could do myself, and that the 

 keepers would have to keep <m at it whether I 

 could be there or not. But I made it an invari- 

 able rule that if ever a shot was fired at a deer, 

 a hound was to be laid on its line, and the deer 

 pursued until it was either recovered or seen to 

 be unwounded. 



In thick woodlands like those of the New 

 Forest, and especially when the fern is high, 

 it is impossible for any man to be certain whether 

 he has struck a deer, which is often out of sight 

 in a single bound. Unless a certainty is made, 



