90 THE NEW FOREST 



stands, however awkwardly it may be, and with- 

 out a second's delay. 



I have in my time killed a good many good 

 bucks by this method, and I must own that it is 

 a quiet form of sport that I have greatly enjoyed. 

 The charm of the surroundings is so great the 

 silence, the calm beauty of the summer evening, 

 with the brilliant but tempered rays of the 

 setting sun slanting down through the heavy 

 foliage, are so impressive, that, whether I met with 

 success or not, I could not but be happy ; while 

 not the worst part was the ride home in the cool 

 of the summer dusk, with the little fern owls 

 following me, and, as is their weird custom, settling 

 in the middle of the road every fifty yards in 

 front, and remaining there till my pony almost 

 trod on them, when they would noiselessly flit up, 

 only to go forward and repeat exactly the same 

 manoeuvre a little farther on. 



Perhaps almost the best thing about sport of 

 most kinds is that it takes one into such beauti- 

 ful and interesting scenery and conditions. 



The fallow deer on the New Forest often 

 run to very good dimensions, and certainly are 

 the best venison possible. I never partook of 

 a deer out of a park that seemed to me to be 

 anything approaching a good Forest buck in 

 excellence. 



