THE HABITS OF THE WILD RED DEER. 199 



fresh to untutored eyes when they can quite make it out, he 

 repHes, " Why, doant 'ee zee there's a spit of rain in the middle 

 ov'n, and us han't had no rain since yesterday morning." 

 Presently, however, the harbourer finds a slot that is unmistakably 

 fresh leading into covert. Still his work is only half done. He 

 must go all round the covert if it is small, or down its rough paths 

 if it be large — as Exmoor woodlands mostly are — and find out 

 whether the stag he wants has crossed or gone on to another 

 woodland, or whether it is lying near at hand, and all the while 

 care must be taken not to alarm the stag, who if he " winds" the 

 presence of foes will be up and away. By a fern bent down and 

 bruised, a broken twig, a curved line on the hard path scarcely 

 visible to any but himself, or splashes of water on boulders in the 

 little brawling rivulet, the harbourer knows if his quarry has gone 

 further. All this may mean hours of patient work. When once 

 satisfied, however, that he has the right stag safe, the harbourer 

 makes his way out of covert silently and swiftly so that the 

 cunning animal may not take flight too soon. Then he goes off to 

 meet the hounds and guide the huntsman to where the runnable 

 stag has been safely harboured. When roused from his lair, the 

 Red Deer brings many cunning tricks into play before hounds can 

 drive him out of covert, but the shifts and subterfuges by which he 

 strives to. elude pursuit or baffle his pursuers must be subject 

 matter for another article. 



