78 FARLEY, 1919 



struggled to his feet and made a plunge half at 

 me and half past me, and just missed me as I 

 stepped hurriedly back ; and he actually staggered 

 and stumbled 30 or 40 yards down the hill before 

 he rolled over and turned up his toes for the 

 second time of asking. And all this with a bullet 

 through the neck and a knife in his throat ! A 

 wonderful instance of a stag's vitality. He was 

 a fine young stag, but not in very good condition, 

 and only weighed 12 stone 12 pounds. He had a 

 fine spread of 32J inches, the widest I have got; 

 and though the velvet was still on, it was quite 

 loose and peeled off quite easily. It certainly 

 was a bit of luck getting him, as I don't think he 

 was one of the lot we were after. The latter 

 must have moved on to Erchless, as we never saw 

 them again. Evidently our trophy was a young 

 roving stag who preferred solitude to company 

 or was he a sick stag in search of health ? Of 

 course, if we could have been sure of his staying 

 on our ground for another year or two we would 

 not have taken him, as he was a young stag 

 coming on a 6-pointer, I should mention but 

 with us it is here to-day and gone to-morrow, 

 and if we had not taken him someone else p T "bably 

 would have ere very long. And so to lunch beside 

 our prize and prize he is in these days of desolation 

 and destruction in dear Farley Wood, with never, 

 oh ! never a stag to gladden our hearts as in the 

 days when Farley was a forest, and the wood was 



