WILD STAG-HUNTING. 201 



natives) than they had in former days, and old, heavy stags are 

 quickly run up. 



" In the chase of the stag, hounds run in a very different 

 form and manner than when hunting the fox, and, instead of 

 going in a body, so that, to use the old familiar term, * a sheet 

 might cover them,' they almost invariably tail, and there is not 

 that dashing and driving for the lead, which gives such zest 

 and excitement to a run with fox-hounds. For this, I think, 

 many causes may be assigned, one of the principal ones being 

 that the scent is so much stronger than that of the fox, that 

 the leading hound is seldom off the line, and, in consequence, 

 has not to try and fling for it, as he would in a fox-chase ; 

 hence, a lead once gained is seldom lost until the hounds are 

 stopped or a regular check ensues. Moreover, a stag, being a 

 bolder animal, runs much straighter than a fox ; I do not mean 

 merely from point to point (as I have seen a cunning old stag 

 dodge like a hare), but that he is not so given to slightly divert 

 his course at every trifling obstacle as a fox, and the foremost 

 hounds do not, in consequence, so often overrun the line, and 

 give those behind a chance to pick it up and take the lead from 

 them. Any man who has watched fox-hounds in chase has 

 seen the leading hounds suddenly drop back, and some of their 

 followers on one side or the other go away with the line at a 

 slight angle to the one previously traversed, without an actual 

 check occurring, where hounds are not over-ridden ; when they 

 are, the whole pack are driven over it, and throw up. This is 

 where the fox, from his timid, sensitive nature, has, from some 

 cause, slightly altered his course, but not the point to which 

 he was making, and occurs very frequently in all runs. With 

 deer it is not so, at least as far as my experience goes ; hence, 

 the leading hounds do not so often come back to their fellows. 

 Loss of start, or momentary hindrances, cannot be made up, 

 and a tail is the result. Perhaps I could better illustrate my 

 meaning by comparing the course of the stag, whether he 

 describes a circle, straight line, or triangle, as resembling the 



