276 STAGHUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



machines and equally noisy reapers, who finish 

 up their dav with a cheerful rabbit hunt from 

 the last patch of corn after the manner of their 

 kind, the old stag in his lair inside the covert 

 fence registers a vow that he will be off as soon 

 as ever it becomes dark enough to move in 

 safety, and that he will travel as many miles 

 as he can from such a noisy spot. Lucky is he 

 indeed if some inquiring sheepdog does not 

 nose his way in the course of a hot August 

 afternoon through his well trodden rack in the 

 covert fence and thread the path that his mighty 

 feet have beaten through the fern beds to the 

 muddy pool where he is wont to take his morning 

 roll, and then questing to and fro, has not 

 roused him with a crash and a bound from his 

 comfortable and solitarv lair. 



