156 Unexplored Spain 



bounds, leaping away over the bush as though in presence of 

 visible peril, thus alarming the youngster and teaching it to seek 

 cover for itself This performance is repeated at intervals until 

 the calf has learnt to lie-up, when the hind will do the same, but 

 at some distance, although in view. She only allows her progeny 

 to accompany her when it has acquired sufficient strength and 

 agility to follow, which is the case some twenty or thirty days 

 after birth. 



Having noted the spoor of a single hind at the breeding- 

 time, one may follow to the spot where she is suckling her 

 young. But so soon as one observes the prints of these spasmodic 

 jumps with which the mother instils into her offspring a sense of 

 caution (as above described), one may then begin leisurely to 

 examine every bush round about. In one of these the calf will 

 be found lying curled up without a bed and with its nose resting 

 on its hip.^ It will at first offer some slight resistance, but once 

 captured, may be set free with the certainty that it will not make 

 any attempt to escape. 



The only enemies the full-grown stag has to fear are mankind 

 and the wolf, but chiefly the latter, since not only do single 

 wolves destroy in this sierra large numbers of the newly born 

 calves, but, worse still, when a troop of wolves have once tasted 

 venison they commence habitually to hunt both hinds and even 

 the younger stags, which they persistently follow day after day 

 till the deer are absolutely worn out. They then pull them down, 

 the final scene usually occurring in some deep ravine or mountain 

 burn. 



The calves of red deer, as happens with ibex kids, are also 

 preyed upon by golden eagles. 



Deer- Shooting 



As regards sport, the best results are only attainable by 

 monterias, or extended drives, assuming that the district is 

 thickly jungled, and generally of elevated situation. There is 

 also a system of shooting at the " roaring-time," but that is 

 uncertain owing to the rapidity of the stag's movements, the 

 thick bush, and the risk of his getting the wind. Practised 



^ Similarly the half-wild cattle of Spain leave their new-horn calves concealed in some 

 bush or palmetto, the mother going off for a whole day and only returning at sunset. 



