DEVON AND SOMERSET. 85 



Once leafv June has covered all the wood- 

 lands alike with her dense green mantle, there 

 is a certain sameness in the depths of all the 

 big woods of Exmoor, and the endless deep 

 shade is, perhaps, less alluring to an artistic 

 eye than the varied scheme of colour of other 

 seasons. In mid-winter, of course, neutral tints 

 are the order of the day, and it is only in 

 exceptionally dry weather that the harmony of 

 grey and brown and slate blue and purple is 

 revealed in the deep woodlands such as Horner. 

 On the other hand one can see much further 

 through the tree stems, and everv moving 

 object is noted at once, where it might pass 

 invisible amongst the fern and dense green 

 foliage of August and September. In hind hunt- 

 ing time the great woods are not so full of 

 deer as in the summer and autumn, for the big 

 herds betake themselves to the open combes 

 and hill-tops, where they can look all round 

 and descrv their enemies from afar, but when 

 once a hind finds herself hard pressed, and 

 fairly separated from her comrades, she is sure 

 to try a spell of running amongst the woodlands, 

 with occasional trips down to the water to take 

 soil and perhaps run the stream-bed for a w'hile 

 to gain time. Some equinoctial gale, perhaps, 

 has thrown a tree -top downwards into the 

 tumbling torrent, and under the shelter of its 

 branches hinds will often find a hiding place, 



