232 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



delight for the appearance of the hunted stag, 

 as he comes down hard driven by the leading 

 hounds to plunge into the river, which he 

 will never leave again until he is drawn ashore 

 to the sound of the angry bay with the notes 

 of the horn ringing over all. 



The oaken woods abound in dead twigs and 

 sticks, but except when first rushing from his 

 lair, a stag will pass almost noiselessly through 

 the densest jungle, his horns laid back upon 

 his shoulders, and his muzzle held straight 

 before him, though sometimes at the first 

 alarm, when some enquiring tufter comes 

 pushing through the ferns right up to his 

 broad red haunch he makes wonderful leaps 

 which occasionallv end in disaster. 



A goodly stag in Kersham Wood near 

 Timberscombe a few seasons since, crouched 

 in his lair until hounds fairly touched him, 

 and then leapt over an adjoining rock, where 

 he fell and damaged himself so badly, that he 

 could onlv run a very short distance and the day's 

 sport was nil. Another stag in Syndercombe 

 Wood near West Holland had only been roused 

 a few minutes when he made a false step at 

 a wide ditch and broke his back within five 

 minutes of his rousing. 



On the moor again one of the treacherous 

 drainage gutters entrapped a four -vear- old 

 deer at the head of the Farley Water, and 



