156 Unexplored Spain 
bounds, leaping away over the bush as though in presence of 
visible peril, thus alarming the youngster and teaching it to seek 
cover for itself. This performance is repeated at intervals until 
the calf has learnt to lie-up, when the hind will do the same, but 
at some distance, although in view. She only allows her progeny 
to accompany her when it has acquired sufficient strength and 
agility to follow, which is the case some twenty or thirty days 
after birth. 
Having noted the spoor of a single hind at the breeding- 
time, one may follow to the spot where she is suckling her 
young. But so soon as one observes the prints of these spasmodic 
jumps with which the mother instils into her offspring a sense of 
caution (as above described), one may then begin leisurely to 
examine every bush round about. In one of these the calf will 
be found lying curled up without a bed and with its nose resting 
on its hip. It will at first offer some slight resistance, but once 
captured, may be set free with the certainty that it will not make 
any attempt to escape. 
The only enemies the full-grown stag has to fear are mankind 
and the wolf, but chiefly the latter, since not only do single 
wolves destroy in this sierra large numbers of the newly born 
calves, but, worse still, when a troop of wolves have once tasted 
venison they commence habitually to hunt both hinds and even 
the younger stags, which they persistently follow day after day 
till the deer are absolutely worn out. They then pull them down, 
the final scene usually occurring in some deep ravine or mountain 
burn. 
The calves of red deer, as happens with ibex kids, are also 
preyed upon by golden eagles. 
DEER- SHOOTING 
As regards sport, the best results are only attainable by 
montertas, or extended drives, assuming that the district is 
thickly jungled, and generally of elevated situation. There is 
also a system of shooting at the “roaring-time,” but that is 
uncertain owing to the rapidity of the stag’s movements, the 
thick bush, and the risk of his getting the wind. Practised 
1 Similarly the half-wild cattle of Spain leave their new-born calves concealed in some 
bush or palmetto, the mother going off for a whole day and only returning at sunset. 
