HINTS TO FORESTERS. Ill 



to the best advantage will tax his skill to the utmost. 

 Far be it from me to pretend to teach any forester his 

 business: there are only one or two matters having^ 

 however, no direct bearing on his art of stalking on 

 which I will say a word. The first is pace : all stalkers 

 are keen and anxidus to show sport, and the days, if 

 they ever existed, have long since passed when they 

 received instructions to take a green hand " out for a 

 walk," and " show him the deer." In their anxiety to 

 get to work they are sometimes apt to forget their 

 gentleman, and start off up-hill at the rate of four miles 

 an hour. It is very poor fun to be toiling two hundred 

 yards behind your stalker ; in such a case it is best to 

 sit quietly down, beckon him back to you, and tell him 

 frankly his pace is not yours, that you wish to see as 

 much of the sport as possible, and that therefore you 

 will be obliged to him if he will go a bit slower. Such 

 a hint is very rarely necessary, and once given it will be 

 acted on in the future. 



Also a word to the stalker when his gentleman makes 

 a handsome miss. Let him not pick up the rifle and 

 stride off in silence at his best pace, with every muscle 

 set rigid in disgust. If an old hand is out he will sit 

 dx)wn and laugh, while he lights his pipe; if it is a 

 novice, it will only make him nervous, and so impress 

 upon him that he has covered himself with disgrace, 

 that he becomes more anxious than ever, and is almost 

 sure to miss again at the next chance. It inspires the 

 misser with far more confidence for future opportunities, 

 and consoles him in some degree for the lost one, if the 

 stalker sit down and take a pipe and a nip with him, 



