DEVON AND SOMERSET. 227 



and jerk to right or left at each bunch of 

 blossoming furze or white spar boulder, how 

 sometimes even the stroke of the wind on the 

 heath will make them suddenly alter their 

 course and start off at a tangent. On en- 

 countering a road or pathway the whole herd 

 will tread so as to avoid the beaten surface, as 

 though unwilling to leave any printed sign of 

 their course. When a herd of hinds is being 

 run bv tufters over the hilltops, one may count 

 with safetv on their fixed habit of running 

 round 'the contour and by pursuing the opposite 

 side of the hill to that on which the hinds are 

 retreating, one may meet them as they return 

 and create great confusion in their ranks, 

 when thev find their time-honoured manoeuvre 

 anticipated. 



When stags are in their winter herds their 

 manoeuvres are much the same, but when 

 they are in season they seem to know that 

 their slower pace and shorter wind does not 

 allow them to take such liberties with their 

 pursuers, and they more frequently bethink 

 themselves of some quiet stronghold at a few 

 miles distance, and go right away from the 

 eager crv of the tufters that have roused them 

 and from the whipper-in's piercing view halloa. 

 The stopping of the tufters is not an invariably 

 easy affair, especiallv if the stag take several 

 turns in covert before breaking, or if he be 



