120 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



ray own will to take up a position, I should creep 

 there silently, and leave my horse half a mile in the 

 rear. 



Not thus the French practice. They will go to 

 their place of ambush talking at the top of their 

 voices, and when they have reached the given spot 

 they will tether their horses perhaps within thirty 

 yards of the position, and when they have attained 

 their places they will give to each other what would 

 be termed in England a view-halloo, to ascertain 

 their exact localities. I know the errors and more 

 than probable results of this practice; but all the 

 hints I gave failed to change it. People, particularly 

 Frenchmen, do not assign to the animals of chase 

 half the reasoning powers they possess; and hence 

 arise so many discomfitures. Take, for instance, 

 the fact that has thrust itself on my conviction in 

 the English and Scotch forests — but it is best illus- 

 trated in the English, where men and deer are more 

 often seen by each other. 



If a herd of deer, or a single deer, see a man, and 

 observe that he is intent on other matters than their 

 destruction, they care not for his scent ; but, having the 

 wind of him, they will let him come within a hundred 

 yards. But on the contary, if they wind a man who 

 is unseen^ and who may he in ambush to compass their 



