1 6 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RED DEER 



Bampkin (=Rampsgill) and Bannerdale, where the 

 doer chiefly lye, and where the tenants stand with 

 their dogs, to prevent the deer escaping to the 

 mountains. This service, which they are to render 

 once a year, is called a Boon Day, and for this every 

 tenant has his dinner and a quart of ale. It is also a 

 custom here that the person who first seizes the 

 hunted deer shall have the head for his trouble. It is 

 remarkable that the first buck taken here was seized 

 by a woman ; she, for the sake of his head, laid hold 

 on him as he stood at bay on a dunghill, threw 

 him down, and getting upon his head, held him 

 fast. The late Mr. Hassel frequently called upon 

 the tenants for this service.' 



The head of the Hasell family used to give away 

 two or three hinds every year to the poor of Martin- 

 dale. The custom fell into abeyance at last in con- 

 sequence of a succession of severe winters which re- 

 duced the stock of deer to little more than a hundred 

 head. There are no poor folk now in Martindale. 

 The necessity of finding remunerative employment 

 has compelled the population of the glens to migrate 

 into the larger towns, leaving the stern hillsides to 

 hardy shepherds and their flocks of small but tooth- 

 some Herdwick sheep. I have referred, in the ' Fauna 

 of Lakeland,' to several other deer preserves in the 



