344 STAG HUNTING WITH THE 



him on his way with quickened bounds and 

 head held high in alarm. 



On the slopes that overhang the fair vale of 

 Stowey, a peculiarly tough and tangled growth 

 of stunted oak copse clothes the shoulders of 

 the hill, and is know^n as Great Customs. Here 

 the Stowey villagers have ancient rights, and 

 here the deer cross by preference from 

 Govett's Copse to Danesborough, knowing that 

 they will be less exposed to view than in 

 crossing the open heath on the hilltop, and the 

 ascent from Seven Wells is also less exhausting. 



A stag that takes a line low down in Great 

 Customs, is sure to seek shelter in the quiet 

 depths of Shervedge Wood, which forms part 

 of the Dunster Castle estate. Here he will 

 invariably wait for hounds, while soiling in the 

 black and peaty pit within the shade of the 

 coppice, and then as he hears his enemies 

 approaching, will steal away over the heathy 

 shoulder of Woodlands Hill, to sink into the 

 depths of Butterfly Combe, indulging perhaps 

 in a hasty roll in Hayman's Pond. 



Even as the cool wave laves his broad loin, 

 the whimpering cry that he has already learned 

 to dread, comes again on his quivering ear, as 

 the leading couples come striding over the sun- 

 baked brow above him, and come plunging 

 down towards him by the self same track he 

 followed through the fern and coppice, over the 



