420 HUNTING. 



Then, as the headmost foes appear'd, 

 With one brave bound the copse he clear'd, 

 And stretching forward free and far, 

 Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var." 



Nimrod relates a few incidents connected with 

 this day's sport, peculiar to hunting the deer. " I 

 had," says he, " in this run, an opportunity of 

 witnessing a circumstance peculiar to stag-hunting, 

 and that is, hunting in water. Our deer beat down 

 a river for about half a mile, the hounds following 

 him by scent, which we might wonder how they 

 could avail themselves of in so chilling an element 

 as a rapidly-flowing stream. This, I think, may 

 be called one of the master-pieces of natural in- 

 stinct." Again, " Our stag once sank in Brem- 

 ridge Wood, when he was fresh found ; and the 

 crash of those deep-tongued hounds at the time 

 was very fine indeed. I was in hopes we should 

 have viewed him in Castle Hill Park, but we were 

 just too late. On breaking out of the park, he took 

 a ring through some of the neighbouring coverts ; 

 when skirting it again, he returned to the place 

 where he was found, and was killed at Bragford, a 

 short distance beyond. He was once what is called 

 ' set up' in the water, where he sank ; but breaking 

 out again, he was pulled down by the pack ; and 

 when one of the field went up to him to cut his 

 throat, his eye was glazed. He was as fine a stag 

 as ever was seen. He had brow, bay, tray, three 

 on top, on one horn, and two on the other ; and 

 the weight of his haunch was thirty-nine poundsy 

 Nimrod laments the want of the French horns that 

 once formed part of this establishment, but which, 



