218 STAG-HUNTING 



this moorland there are more woods, and the country 

 is for the most part enclosed ; but the ridge between 

 the Danesbrook and the railway (Anstey and Holland 

 Commons), that between the Exe and the Barle (Wins- 

 ford Hill), and Haddon Hill further to the south-east, 

 are great expanses of heather, and it is across the wide 

 tracts of open ground that the runs are best. 



The chief strongholds of the deer are the Horner 

 and Porlock covers, near the centre of the coast line ; 

 Haddon, ten miles south of Dunkerry Beacon ; Badg- 

 worthy, seven miles westward ; and the woods on 

 the Barle and Exe between the two places last named. 

 There are also deer in the south-west corner, in the 

 Bray and Bratton covers, besides small herds and 

 single deer at Slowley, Cutcombe and other places. 



Though Exmoor is strictly only a parish formed out 

 of the old Crown forest in the centre of the moorland, 

 the name is applied indiscriminately to all the open 

 ground ; and indeed none but a native with consider- 

 able local knowledge can tell exactly where the boun- 

 daries of Exmoor run, the features of the country being 

 almost identical on either side of the line. It is, how- 

 ever, a singular fact that though there is heather all 

 round, there is hardly any in Exmoor parish, its place 

 being taken by rough grass. Trees are conspicuous 

 by their absence. 



