HARBOURING AND TUFTING. 133 



draw for him. The main difficulty in this is, first, to 

 be sure of harbouring the right deer, and, secondly, 

 to do so without frightening him away. A very 

 favourite trick with amateur harbourers is to go about 

 the covers and watch the deer into them, with the 

 probable result that the prudent animals, being very 

 quick of scent and hearing, move quietly off and are 

 seen no more for the day. Of course it may happen 

 that the harbourer, on first going out, may see a good 

 stag lie down on the opposite side of a valley ; and in 

 such a case his work is done at once, and so surely 

 that he can lay his hand on the deer. But this is 

 not harbouring proper, which is really an exercise of 

 woodcraft. The harbourer' s true guide is the slot, or 

 footprint, of the deer, and on this and this only should 

 he depend. 



The slots of stag and hind differ very greatly. That 

 of the stag is far rounder and far larger than the 

 hind's. The older and heavier the stag the wider is 

 the spread of the toes, the blunter the toes themselves, 

 and the broader the width of the heel. There is also 

 a difference between the print of fore and hind slots, 

 the latter being smaller and more pointed, with the 

 claws, in old deer, frequently uneven. The slot of a 

 hind or young male deer is narrower and more 



