200 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



except that in the fourth year he calls him a staggard, in the 

 fifth a stag, but adds, 'that in times past, the foresters and 

 woodmen were wont to call him stag at the fourth yeer, and not 

 a staggard, as we do now. And also at the fifth yeer they do 

 call him a great stag. And so they were wont to give him a 

 difference by this word of stag and great stag. And whereas 

 some do think that a stag, of what age soever he be, shall not 

 be called a hart until the king or queen do hunt him ; that is 

 not so, for they are greatly deceived that so do think ; for after 

 the fifth yeer of his age he should no more be called a stag, but 

 a hart ; and as Budseus saith, at six yeers of age, then a hart 

 you shall him call ; so that if a stag come to be six yeers of age, 

 then he is a hart.' In Devonshire they are now called, first a 

 calf, then a knobbler or brocket, afterwards a spire or pricket ; 

 in the fourth year a staggart ; in the fifth a stag or warrantable 

 deer ; at and after six, a stag or hart. As we learn from * The 

 Chase of the Wild Red Deer,' Hinds are, first year a calf, the 

 second a brocket's sister or hearst, in the third a young hind or 

 hind. 



" When the stag has been unharboured and fairly driven into 

 the open, the fox-hunter will notice another material difference 

 from the chase to which he has been used. With the fox all is 

 bustle and excitement (too much so sometimes) to get the 

 hounds on his line. Here it is different, for the stag can be 

 hunted any reasonable length of time after he is gone. Hence, 

 the first thing is to head and stop the tufters ; that being done, 

 the huntsman goes for his pack, kennelled, perhaps, in some 

 outhouse two or three miles away, either bringing them back to 

 where the tufters were stopped, or laying them on the line at 

 some more favourable point, according to his judgment. Arthur 

 Heal, the present huntsman to the Devon and Somerset, gets 

 his hounds on the line much more quickly than was formerly 

 the fashion. With a light deer this, no doubt, gives them a 

 great advantage, and a better chance of bringing him to hand, 

 but, as a rule, the result is shorter chases (at least, so say the 



