DEVON AND SOMERSET. 373 



House then occupied by the late Dr. S. P. 

 Budd. The table was laid for dinner, and the 

 stag cleared it at a bound, displacing one 

 wine glass only in his leap. At the end of 

 the room, he pulled up short with his back to 

 the service door, and confronting the plate- 

 glass mirror of the sideboard. Here, as if 

 overcome by the apparition of a mirrored stag 

 in front of him, he stood at gaze until secured. 

 Hinds make excellent pets, and can be 

 reared from their youngest days with a little 

 trouble, but in a country traversed by so 

 many packs of hounds, where the sound of 

 the horn can be heard on any still winter's 

 day, tame deer are never quite free from 

 danger, and sooner or later are very likely to 

 come to an unfortunate end. Male deer 

 invariably become troublesome, a well known 

 instance of the earlv seventies being a male 

 calf that was saved bv the late Mr. W. 

 Lyddon, of Edbrooke House, near Winsford, 

 and became a great favourite, but even before 

 he reached full size began to terrorize the 

 women of the localitv. So bold was he that 

 he would follow Mr. Lyddon 's waggon for 

 miles along the road to Minehead and would 

 return from thence bv himself, quite un- 

 concerned except at sight of a petticoat, 

 when he would at once assume the offensive. 

 Walking into the house at Edbrooke, he would 



