246 STAG-HUNTING 



touching either bank ; as a rule they avoid going 

 under bridges, but exceptions to this are not rare ; an 

 old deer is too clever to go far up stream if the 

 water is heavy, but young ones will do so, and, of 

 course, tire themselves out in the effort. They com- 

 pletely baffle the hounds sometimes, even when 

 quite exhausted, by sinking themselves entirely ex- 

 cept their heads under water ; they give off no scent 

 then, and the hounds are so busy with their noses 

 that they constantly fail to see what is very obvious 

 to those witn them. There is another dodge which 

 has saved many a deer, and which may deceive 

 even the cleverest huntsman, especially as deer 

 seldom attempt it unless they are a good bit ahead 

 of hounds. Sometimes then they will enter a stream, 

 go up a little way in the water ; land, and go up a 

 bit further along the bank ; then re-enter the stream 

 and go down it to some point far below that at which 

 they had originally come to the water. 



The huntsman watching his hounds will see they 

 carry the scent into the water with their heads up 

 stream, and will cast them upward ; presently he will 

 hit the line where the deer had gone out on the bank, 

 which will confirm him in believing his deer to be 

 above him, and he will go on casting up accordingly, 

 getting further astray every yard that he goes ; and 



