254 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



this uncomfortable growth, hinds, in particular, 

 will always lead the pack if they can possibly 

 contrive to do so. Although their own feet 

 and legs suffer not a little in galloping over 

 this dense and prickly carpet, they evidently 

 know well its virtues in arresting the progress 

 of their enemies the hounds. 



The Slowley coverts, with their warm lying 

 and red soil, and with the good feeding which 

 the deer obtain upon some of the farms in 

 their neighbourhood, have always been famous 

 for the good heads they produce, and to the 

 credit of the neighbouring Minehead district 

 must be laid the record trophy secured by 

 Mr. Sanders during his long and successful 

 term of office. 



The Selworthv, Slowlev, and Minehead herds 

 constantly travel to and fro and intermingle, so 

 that a stag may be seen in either one of these 

 districts to-dav, and with all likelihood be reported 

 as an inhabitant of another covert by to-morrow 

 morning. This particular stag carried a most 

 curious division of the beam on the top of the 

 near horn and abounded in points, large and 

 small, numbering seventeen all told. One curious 

 point about him was, that although various large 

 deer had been seen and harboured in these 

 allied districts, yet this identical stag's presence 

 had never been detected until within a season 

 or two of his capture, so that he would seem 



