DEVON AND SOMERSET. 301 



in the many moves between the wily animal 

 running for its life and its adversary the 

 huntsman. With the latter on such days it 

 often becomes a matter of sheer dogged perse- 

 verance, of making good each possible direction 

 in which the vanished quarry can have gone 

 until at the last possible cast he is rewarded 

 by the cheering sight of some keen nosed 

 hound hitting off the lost foil. Even then it 

 would seem as if an hour's start must secure 

 the eventual escape of an animal with such 

 powers of endurance as a wild red stag ; 

 but there is always of course one important 

 factor in favour of the chase, and that is the 

 stag's tendency to lie down after severe exertion, 

 when he has reached some hiding place where 

 he fancies himself secure. His rest too, if only 

 he has been pressed sufficiently in the earlier 

 part of the run always seems to have done him 

 more harm than good, and his muscles, relaxed 

 by long hours of midsummer ease and high 

 feeding, are sure to stiffen while he waits for 

 the fresh approach of the horn that has been 

 making him uneasy ever since midday. Then 

 too, with the dip of the sun towards the western 

 horizon, scent suddenly alters as a rule, and 

 from being faint and unreliable gains strength 

 with each succeeding half hour. 



Judged by his head alone, a deer may be 

 said to be warrantable in many different ways. 



