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AUTUMN AND WINTER 



animal's experience. He stares with a sort of fascination, 

 as deer hunted at night in America will stare at a bright 

 light. It is unlikely that he will actually approach the spot, 

 but he will rise and reconnoitre, and in so doing, it may be, 

 serve the hunter's purpose. 



The stalker, who flips the bits of moss, is using much the 

 same device as the stoat which plays its gymnastic antics. 

 It is certainly a common trick of the stoat's, though perhaps 

 not general, to tumble head over heels, to indulge in a 



RED DEER 



succession of queer leaps and dances before the spectators 

 whom he desires as victims. While the display is in progress 

 birds will come round and venture quite close, solely, one 

 would say, from a sort of fascinated curiosity. Among very 

 many animals the eye is the most easily deceived of the 

 senses. They do not see still things, and apparently they 

 do not distinguish the form or meaning of any moving 

 things. Seeing is not believing. Smelling or hearing are. 

 The faintest whiff of man's presence down the wind will send 

 the deer flying for miles ; that worst enemy of the stalker, 

 the old cock grouse, has trumpeted danger to hundreds of 

 deer, whose watchman he is. 



For perfection of all the senses, especially of sight, one 



