DEER -STALK ING. 45 



face them. I can't say that driving, under any circum- 

 stances, gives half the pleasure that stalking does; for 

 my own part, I would rather kill one stalked hart than 

 several driven. Driving, however, upon a large scale has 

 a most imposing effect, and, although it cannot be other- 

 wise than injurious to a forest, yet the exhilarating nature 

 of the whole proceedings, in which so many friends may 

 join, often makes the proprietor overlook the consternation 

 and panic it creates among the wild and timid herd. Some 

 part of the forest is selected to which the deer are to be 

 driven; a great number of hill-men and shepherds, who 

 thoroughly understand what they are about, are then sent 

 to the furthest extremity to bring all the deer they can 

 collect to this spot ; the passes, of course, being well 

 known, are occupied by the sportsmen with their rifles. 

 The drivers sometimes hallooing, and sometimes giving 

 their wind, gradually contract their circle ; the deer are 

 huddled together, and, finding the only clear ground in 

 the direction of the rifles, slowly and cautiously take their 

 doomed way. There is often great difficulty in driving 

 them, as they are always obliged to go with the wind, 

 which their natural instinct of self-preservation makes 

 them very unwilling to do, and, if they possibly can, 

 they always face it. When the herd come within distance 

 of the rifles, great mischief often ensues ; the nervous and 

 indifferent shot firing into the centre of the living mass, 

 while even the experienced deer-stalker, in singling out 

 the stag-royal, may sometimes wound a couple of hinds 

 beyond him. 



