WILD STAG-HUNTING. 199 



particular stag he Avislies to luint. Can any one question Avhicli 

 is the most scientific operation, and requires the deepest know- 

 ledge of woodcraft ? There is no finer sight in the world than 

 an old stag when leaping forth to view in all his majestic 

 beauty. He stands at gaze a moment, and then gliding into his 

 long, easy stride, which looks so slow, but really is so fast, so 

 takes advantage of the inequalities of the ground, that he is out 

 of sight, apparentl}'-, on an open plain, ere you can believe it. 

 Turn your head but for a moment, and he is lost to the eye 

 until set up, or fresh found at least. Do you think he was 

 afraid of us 1 2!^ot one jot ! 



'* A friend told me he saw one found near Eggesford, who 

 broke into the field where the horsemen had all been drawn 

 up in line, gazed at them a moment from the boundary fence, 

 and then trotted along from end to end, like a general reviewing 

 a regiment of cavalry, and away. It is not easy for any or > 

 Avho has not passed his life amongst them, to tell a good deer 

 from a light one, or to see what his rights are ; so that if you 

 are a stranger, your wisest plan is to hold your tongue ; if you 

 can distinguish a stag from a hind with certainty at some little 

 distance, it is about as much as you will do at first. ]S'ever- 

 theless, that my readers may know how deer should be termed 

 at different ages — a point on which many would be glad of infor- 

 mation if they only knew wheie to go for it — I transcribe the 

 following from the 'Boke of Hunting,' a part of the ' Boke of 

 St. Alban's,' written by Lady Juliana Berners, prioress of Sope- 

 well Xunnery, near St. Alban's, in the thirteenth century, and 

 first printed at St. Alban's in 1481 : — 



And to speke of the hert, if ye will it here. 



Ye shall call him a calfe at the first yere, 



The second yere a brocket ; so shall he be 



The third yere a spayard, lerneth this at me ; 



The fourth yere calles him a stagge, be any way 



The fifth yere a grete stagge, my Dame bade you say. 



** Manwood, in his * Forest Laws,' also bears out these terms, 



