THE STAG-DOG. 



127 



and after following for about a mile the track which the 

 depredator had taken, he came at last to a heap of furze 

 fagots belonging to the family of a cottager. The woman 

 of the house attempted to drive the dog away, but was pre- 

 vented; and on the fagots being removed a hole was dis- 

 covered in the ground, which contained the body of a 

 sheep that had recently been killed, and also a considerable 

 quantity of salted meat. The circumstance which renders 

 this account the more remarkable is, that the dog was not 

 brought to the scent until more than sixteen hours had 

 elapsed after the man had carried away the sheep." 

 The stag- "The Stag hound," says Colonel Smith, "was a 

 Hotmd. large stately animal, equal or little less than the 

 blood hound, and originally, like that race, slow, sure, cautious 

 and steady." " The modern hound is perhaps still handsomer, 

 though somewhat srnaller; and the breed having been crossed 

 with the fox hound is now much faster." The stag himt 

 having declined in public favour they have ceased to be bred 

 in packs for hunting purposes. 

 A stag- " Many years since, " says Captain Brown, " a very 

 Hunt, large stag was turned out of Whinfield Park in the 

 county of Westmoreland, and was pursued by the hounds 

 till, by accident or fatigue, the whole pack was thrown out 

 with the exception of two dogs which continued the chase. 

 Its length is uncertain, but the chase was seen at Red Kirk 

 near Annan in Scotland, distant by the post road about forty- 

 six miles. The stag returned to the park from which he had 

 set out, so that considering the circuitous route which it 

 pursued, it is supposed to have run over not less than one 

 hundred and twenty miles. It was its greatest and last 

 achievement, for it leapt the wall of the park and immedi- 

 ately expired ; the hounds were also found dead at no great 

 distance from the wall which they had been unable to leap. 

 An inscription was placed on a tree in the park, in memory 

 of the animals, and the horns of the stag, the largest ever 



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