CHAPTER XI 

 Stag-Hunting 



IN most parts of England two hundred years ago, 

 both red and fallow deer were scattered fairly 

 plentifully over the land. Every large owner of 

 the soil preserved herds in his woods and parks, 

 which wandered about where they listed, free from 

 any except legitimate danger. Hounds were not 

 then bound down to the pursuit of one animal, 

 so that when a hunting-party failed to find the 

 deer they sought, they were content to follow the 

 hare or fox. The enclosing and cultivating of 

 the land has changed all this, so that now the 

 wild red deer has been driven to where man is 

 seldom seen and his habitations are few. Amongst 



