138 STAG-HUNTING ON EXMOOR. 



any fear of disturbing him, and a rouse on the open is 

 a very pretty sight. 



The best harbourer in the early days of Mr. Bisset 

 was James Blackmore, of Haddon; a great character, 

 known to every one as "Jim." His father had been a 

 harbourer before him, and he himself had been, as Mr. 

 Bisset writes, bound more or less in an apprenticeship 

 to Haddon all his life. His knowledge of the habits 

 of the deer, of their favourite layers, feeding places, 

 and soiling pits was beyond comparison greater than 

 that of any one else ; and when he chose to do his 

 best there was not another man in the country who 

 could equal him in his particular business. He had 

 been at one time a miller and a private in the yeomanry, 

 but, to quote Mr. Bisset, his harbouring propensities 

 far exceeded his military ardour, and he did not remain 

 long in the service. Probably it was also from attend- 

 ing: more to the deer than his business that he sank 

 from a miller to an ordinary labourer, and took up his 

 abode on the top of Haddon Hill, doing such odd jobs 

 as were to be had, but still maintaining his character 

 as watcher and caretaker of the deer. Mr. Bisset 

 gives an amusing account of a day when, after the 

 greater part of the Haddon Woods had been drawn 

 blank for a hind, and it seemed hopeless to find one, 



