DEVON AND SOMERSET. 225 



aside for awhile by some unlooked for obstacle, 

 while the wily hind will be for ever changing 

 her course and doubling in each covert, to come 

 out at some totally unexpected spot, while ever 

 and anon she will lead her pursuers down to 

 water and then shape her course straight 

 upwards to the very summit of the highest hill 

 she can find. Still it is always good judgment 

 to keep above hounds while running on these 

 enormous hillsides. It is still more necessary 

 to do so when they have a hind before them, 

 as her light limbs will carry her from the rocky 

 pools to the wind swept summit where perhaps 

 the rest of the herd are waiting for her, and 

 then if your horse is blown with the long ascent 

 you cannot possibly be in time to help single 

 her out from her comrades, or to see in which 

 direction she creeps away to rest herself 

 w^hile the pack is divided in all directions, 

 each section with a fresh deer or two before 

 them. 



In making one's way to a meet in the short 

 winter days when the appointed time is ten 

 o'clock, one more often than not views a herd 

 or two of deer standing about on the open, 

 which one does not so often see in the autumn 

 season, when the hinds are sheltering themselves 

 and their calves in the thickest jungles they 

 can find, and the stags seem instinctively to know 

 that they are in season, and that the harbourer 

 Q 



