IN DEVON AND SOMERSET 227 



The stag moves with more confidence than the 

 hind, so his paces are regular. The hind moves 

 femininely and distrustfully : sometimes she will put 

 her hind feet down in front of the spot from which she 

 has just lifted her fore ones, sometimes on the same 

 spot, sometimes behind it. A yeld or barren hind 

 moves nearly like a young stag, but her sex will from 

 time to time betray itself in the irregularity of her 

 paces, even if the marks of her small and down- 

 pointed dew claws cannot be detected. Moreover, 

 though a young stag may open the toes of his fore 

 slots in walking, yet those of his hind feet will always 

 be closed : while with hinds all the toes are always a 

 little open. A big stag, on the other hand, keeps all 

 his toes closed, and if there is decided difference in 

 the size of the hind and fore slots, that is one certain 

 sign of an old stag ; others are, closeness of the dew 

 claws to the heel, a slight trailing of the toes of the 

 hind foot, and the placing of it on the ground well 

 behind the imprint of the fore foot. Yet another sign 

 of an old stag, not mentioned by the French writers but 

 pointed out to me by Miles, and reckoned infallible 

 by him, is unevenness in the length of the claws of 

 the hind foot. 



None know better than those who have studied 

 woodcraft, however slightly, that there are no hard 



Q2 



