410 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



him too. One would push hiin, and then another ; for, 

 go where he might, he was sure to be in the way. It is 

 true such poor little unfortunate was generally the most 

 awkward of the family ; but then constant ill-treatment 

 is enough to make any one embarrassed and awkward. 



The caution with which a stag, particularly an old 

 one well versed in the ways of men, will emerge from 

 a thicket into the open space, is very great. With his 

 head almost on the ground, he steals forth as stealthily 

 as a fox. You do not hear a dead leaf rustle, so noise- 

 less are his movements : with his nose low down, and 

 advanced as much as possible, he will stand immovable 

 for some minutes, with no part of him visible except the 

 nostrils and the large bright eyes, — these alone move ; 

 and when the ground has been thus carefully recon- 

 noitred, without however at all turning his head, the 

 rest of the creature then steals forth, and with a fleet 

 step he flits across the road, and into the shelter of the 

 opposite thicket. It is a mystery to me how a stag is 

 able to pass through the intricate foliage with his wide- 

 spreading antlers, without disturbing the boughs, — so cau- 

 tiously indeed as not even to cause a twig or the trem- 

 bling of a leaf to betray his approach. He is aware of 

 the danger, and flings them back quite low behind him : 

 when in full flight through the forest he does the same, 

 lest he strike them against the overhanging branches in 

 his headlong haste.* 



One thing too will have struck every person who has 

 had opportunities of observing wild animals ; the quick - 



* " Now on again comes another herd, 

 They follow their leader's track ; 

 I' the van their chief, his embattled crown 

 Filing down on his velvet back." 



Veese : Ballad of the Hot/al Hunt 

 in the New Forest. 



