IN DEVON AND SOMERSET 219 



Perhaps, too, there is rather more wet ground on 

 the forest than on its surroundings. But both the extent 

 and bogginess of the wet ground are apt to be exagge- 

 rated by strangers. 



The Quantocks are a ridge covered with gorse and 

 heather, running northward from near Taunton to 

 the channel at St. Audries ; they are only about eight 

 miles long, very narrow, and intersected by deep 

 combes, which are nearly all thickly wooded. I do 

 not think it is possible to get bogged there, and this, 

 coupled with the fact that the deer nearly always run 

 the same way, renders the hunting on the Quantocks 

 very popular with the neighbouring townspeople. 



The Stoodleigh country has miles of cover along 

 the Exe Valley and its tributaries, and the land around 

 is all enclosed and very strongly fenced ; there were 

 deer there as long ago as there are any records of the 

 pack, but for many years prior to 1855 they had prac- 

 tically disappeared ; since that date, however, a small 

 herd has grown up, which has little if any connection 

 with any other. 



The late Mr. Esdaile of Cothelestone claimed, no 

 doubt with justice, to have turned out the first stag on 

 the Quantocks. Very likely there had been wild red 

 deer on those hills in former days, as there were at 

 Bagshot, but there is no record of their ever having 



