6 BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 



But, ere his fleet career he took, 



The dew-drops from his flanks he shook ; 



Like crested leader proud and high, 



Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky ; 



A moment gazed, and down the dale 



A moment snuffed the tainted gale ; 



A moment listened to the cry, 



That thickened as the chase drew nigh ; 



Then, as the headmost foes appeared, 



With one brave bound the copse he cleared." 



Thus pursued, he will not stop to resist the dogs, or 

 stand at bay, until he is exhausted, or driven to the 

 water. With all his senses very acute, his courage is 

 determined; even at the last, he is sometimes capa- 

 ble of amazing effort. In the New Forest there is 

 a celebrated spot, called the Deer-leap, where a stag 

 was once shot, and in the agony of death, collecting all 

 his strength, he gave a bound, which astonished all who 

 saw it. It is marked out by two posts, fixed at the 

 extremities of the leap, and the space between them is 

 something more than fifty-four feet ! 



The stag, it appears, like some other creatures, feels 

 the influence of music. Playford tells us, that as he 

 once travelled near Royston, he met a herd of these 

 animals, amounting to about twenty, following a bag- 

 pipe and violin on the road ; while the music played, 

 they went forward, when it ceased, they all stood still, 



