DEEK-HOUNDS AND COLLIES. 53 



follow the unwounded ones for miles, and in so doing 

 disturb a very large area of ground, both during the 

 pursuit and on the return journey home, for he will 

 sometimes be away for hours at a stretch and alto- 

 gether lose his master. 



One of the last shots I had this season afforded 

 a very pretty, but most annoying display of the 

 cunning of a stag hard pressed. We had been out 

 all day without getting a shot, and found ourselves 

 about half-past five nearly three hundred yards off a 

 lot of stags. The ground was very flat ; to get nearer 

 was impossible, and we discussed whether such a long 

 shot should be taken, hoping all the time that they 

 would feed towards us; this, however, they did not 

 do, and knowing it was my only chance that day, 

 and a good stag standing well out, I took the shot, 

 and smashed his fore-leg near the shoulder. The dog 

 was slipped, or rather ordered to go in pursuit, for 

 he was one of the collies previously alluded to, and 

 as bad luck would have it, that day we had but the 

 one dog with us. The deer were heading as hard as 

 they could to a burn with high and steep banks; as 

 they came to it the good dog was already close on 

 them, and as they disappeared into it we expected to 

 hear the bay, and looking on the stag as our own, began 

 to run up. To our dismay, as they came again into 

 sight after crossing the burn, we saw the dog dashing 

 on after the herd and the wounded one not with them ; 

 he had cleverly hidden himself in the burn while 

 the dog passed by, he most unluckily going between 

 the wounded stag and the wind. As soon as the dog was 



