46 DEER -STALKING. 



So much for driving on grand occasions, which gives 

 the shooter a tolerably snug sinecure until the game comes 

 up to his hand. But when it is practised in a small way, 

 there is no sport which more calls into play his pluck and 

 endurance of fatigue. He first climbs to the ridge of the 

 hill, where he is at once seen by the hawk-eyed driver who 

 has taken his station near the foot, or on the opposite brow, 

 and has marked with his glass every herd at feed or rest on 

 the face below. As soon as he has selected one, he 

 attempts to drive it up the hill, towards the sportsman, either 

 by hallooing or showing himself; at the same time giving 

 warning by the manner of his halloo which way they are 

 likely to take. The sportsman must be thoroughly 

 acquainted with all the passes, or have some person with 

 him who is ; and, running from one " snib " to another, 

 in obedience to the signal below, catch sight of the horns 

 of the herd, as, with serpentine ascent, they wind their 

 wary way. From the zigzag manner in which they often 

 come up, it is very difficult to make sure which pass will 

 be the favoured one, and I have been within a few hundred 

 yards of the antlers when the prolonged shout from below 

 has warned me that I had an almost perpendicular shoulder 

 of the hill to breast at my utmost speed before I could 

 hope to obtain the much-desired shot. If the wind is at all 

 high, so determined are the deer to face it, that, unless 

 there are a great number of drivers, one herd after 

 another may take the wrong direction ; but, if the day is 

 favourable, with only a light breeze, a knowing driver or 

 two will generally manage to send them up to the rifle. 



