24 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RED DEER 



the terrible winter of 1893-4, being found dead in 

 an out of the way spot, not far from Patterdale. 



I had almost forgotten to mention that the 

 Martindale stags occasionally swim the breadth of 

 Ulles water Lake in order to join the hinds in Gow- 

 barrow Park. Stags have also been found to cross 

 from Gowbarrow to the shores of Martindale, but this 

 is an unusual event. Jackson recollects one par- 

 ticular stag which was very determined to remain in 

 Martindale, whither it had escaped from Gowbarrow. 

 But its wandering propensities may be accounted for 

 by the fact that it was a strange animal, which had 

 been taken to Gowbarrow for the sake of new blood. 

 It was eventually captured in the lake, and towed 

 ashore by a boat's crew. This circumstance reminds 

 me of a description of a royal hunt, in which the 

 quarry sought to escape from his enemy by ' soiling,' 

 or in other words by taking to the water. The 

 details given are so graphic that I venture to repro- 

 duce them here. 'Aug. 17. Between Ten and 

 Eleven in the Morning, their Majesties, together with 

 his Royal Highness the Duke, and their Royal 

 Highnesses the Princesses, came to New Park by 

 Richmond, from Hampton Court, and diverted them- 

 selves with hunting a Stag, which ran from Eleven to 

 One, when he took to the great Pcnd, and defended 



