146 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



the great Nott stag of Dunkery, whose last wild 

 race for life is narrated on a subsequent page. 

 The sw^itch-horned stag of Haddon, who shed 

 his malformed horn and died at Couple Ham 

 fighting with two normal horns, and scratching such 

 horses as came within his reach. The old one- 

 horned stag of Cothelstone, who charged amongst 

 the held at Kingston St. Marv, and the great 

 stag of Stoodleigh. 



At the time of writing there flourishes on 

 Dunkery an old one-horned stag, with at least 

 four points atop on his single beam, who travels 

 much the same line of country as the black stag 

 was w^ont to. But the black stag roused more 

 curiosity than all the other marked deer of the 

 past two decades, and not a few were incredulous 

 as to his existence until he was safely hung up 

 by the heels at Bratton Court. The legend of 

 his existence had being going for several years, 

 but it came to a sudden and a glorious end on 

 that October afternoon in 1893. 



Friday, October 25th, 1893, was the last day 

 of the legitimate season, but an additional 

 by-dav was held on Saturday, magnificent deer 

 being killed on each occasion. On the former 

 day, the meet was at Bagborough Plantation 

 Gate as of yore, and was not very largely 

 attended, later arrivals, however, swelling the 

 ranks of the mounted field to about one 

 hundred all told. 



