238 STAG-HUNTING 



Hinds, I believe, are occasionally hunted in 

 Thuringia, where there is a pack of great Russian- 

 bred hounds which accounts for thirty to forty stags 

 in the year ; but never in France. There is no 

 reference to hind-hunting in the old books, and 

 though the fallow doe was, according to the ' Craft of 

 Hontyng,' a beast of chase, the hind is not mentioned 

 therein as a beast of venery, or otherwise. Hinds, 

 however, have been hunted on Exmoor for a century 

 at any rate. Those who only contrast the stag's formi- 

 dable antlers with the defenceless head of his mate 

 may say, ' Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hind,' 

 but that sentiment will not be echoed by anyone 

 who has had practical experience of a winter's hind- 

 hunting, and who has learned thereby how strong 

 they run and how difficult they are to kill. The 

 weather on the moor between the ist of November 

 and the ist of March is often very trying and incle- 

 ment ; there is not usually much frost, but nearly 

 always there is a great deal of rain. In almost any 

 weather, however, the wild land carries a scent. At 

 first the hinds will perhaps run round and round in a 

 most exasperating way, and many days are marred by 

 the hounds changing on to fresh deer when their 

 hunted one is more than half beaten ; nevertheless 

 the sport is often first-rate. Especially is this the 



