HARBOURING AND TUFTING. 135 



well on grass, if not too long, as on soil, and dis- 

 tinguish to which sex of deer it belongs. The stag 

 duly "slotted" into cover, it remains to be seen 

 whether he has stopped or harboured there. To do 

 this the outside hedge and its various racks must all 

 be made good, and if no slot lead out of it he may 

 reasonably conclude that the deer is in the cover. But 

 the cover may be some hundreds of acres in extent, 

 and in that case the cross paths may have to be made 

 good, and the deer's whereabouts ascertained if 

 possible more nearly. This must be done with great 

 caution, as if the harbourer goes about a wood before 

 the deer has settled himself for the day (ix. about 9 

 A.M.) he runs the risk of disturbing him. The rest- 

 less habits of stags on the approach of the rutting 

 season make nice harbouring then a very difficult 

 matter. Again, the deer may have gone through the 

 wood and out the other side, and in that case it may 

 be necessary to follow him for a mile or two to the 

 place where he does mean to stop, casting forward or 

 around where slotting is impossible. In this way a 

 harbourer may have been steadily at work for four and 

 five hours, and even so not have completed it to his 

 satisfaction. On the other hand he may be able to 

 harbour without difficulty two, three, or four stags in 



