256 SHORT STALKS 



pressure oii the trigger, but something iu the clumsiness of 

 the o-ait arrests me ; then the hish of a long; taih Bless- 

 ings on that tail I — think what a fate it saved me from— 

 if it had not been for that, I should have gone down to my 

 o-rave as the man who shot the cow ! How that cow o-ot 

 there puzzles me to this moment. 



Talking of cows, I once found a heifer at a lower level 

 l)ut in a more awkward fix. She had been stretching up 

 after the young leaves, but, slipping, had wedged her head 

 between two beech stems, which sprang V-shaped from 

 one stool. When I discovered her, her head was pointing 

 down the hill, but in her struggles, her body also had 

 worked round the tree and down the slope, till it was a 

 miracle her neck had stood the strain. AVlien we found 

 her, the last flicker of life had nearly gone, and her eyes 

 and nose were already Jiy-hlown ! Releasing her with 

 some difficulty, we poured the contents of a whisky flask 

 down lier throat, and to our astonishment, she presently 

 came to, but with a crook in her neck which she probably 

 has still. ^ 



1 An accident of this kind liajj^^ened some years ago to a red deer in 

 Windsor Park, and terminated fatally. When discovered the animal was 

 dead. 



