Z5^ STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



and if not in one field then in the next, they 

 will have their hll, and that of the best which 

 the neighbourhood affords. 



Night watching, if efficiently carried out, will 

 thwart their attack, but the difficulty of keeping 

 body and soul together for many mid-winter 

 nights in succession on the exposed heights 

 where the deer mostly feed is too great for the 

 endurance of the average watcher, and after a 

 while he more often than not cannilv goes 

 home to bed. The eerie loneliness of such a 

 vigil must be tried to be appreciated. 



The near neighbourhood of the deer is more 

 generally heard than seen, as they rush through 

 the wet turnip leaves at the near approach of the 

 shivering guardian of the crop. A stick cracks 

 at the fence and the boughs quiver and rustle 

 against the gloomy sky, which is only one 

 degree lighter than the slumbering earth. 

 Presently a hailstorm patters and rattles, as it 

 sweeps across from hill to hill, drenching and 

 chilling all nature in its course, bowing the 

 broad turnip leaves with added moisture, and 

 setting the hedges dripping, while each cart rut 

 runs with ice cold water. Or again, a frosty 

 moon perhaps has just set beneath the western 

 horizon, and by the bright starlight the watcher 

 sees a long line of grey white forms, trooping 

 silently across the crop he has been set to 

 guard, until they come to the part which is 



