THE CHASE OF THE STAG. i6i 



known to be very vicious, and killed a valuable brood 

 mare in the park shortly after. He was a stag, be it 

 observed, not a fallow buck. Hounds take not the 

 least notice of fallow deer, and will carry the line of a 

 stag right through a herd of them. 



Hinds give no trouble at all of this kind, and have 

 been pulled down by a single hound ; though here 

 again hounds are kept, if possible, from touching 

 them. In any case, being almost invariably killed in 

 water, they are drowned. It is remarkable to ob- 

 serve the difference between hounds in their handling 

 of deer. Some will have a hind down in a moment 

 unaided ; others will not attempt to touch even a calf. 

 A hoimd has been known to run up to a calf in the 

 middle of a field and simply stand and bay it. Mr. 

 Bisset records the fact that a yearling hind and a 

 hound were found lying together in a road comfortably 

 curled up in perfect amity. On the opening day of 

 the season of 1884, the hottest hunting day on record, 

 a single hound drove a stag to water and lay down by 

 him there, both utterly exhausted from the heat. The 

 hound recovered himself first, drove the stag out, and 

 continued the chase. As a rule, however, hounds do 

 not hesitate long about tackling a hind or young male 

 deer, and, if many hinds have been killed in the 



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