OF SELBORNE. 



135 



the belly and chin by ropes, and in a stand- 

 ing posture ; but, though it had been dead 

 for so short a time, it was in so putrid a 

 state that the stench was hardly support* 

 able. The grand distinction between this 

 deer, and any other species that I have 

 ever met with, consisted in the strange 

 length of its legs ; on which it was tilted 

 up much in the manner of the birds of the 

 grallce order. I measured it, as they do 

 an horse, and found that, from the ground 

 to the wither, it was just five feet four 

 inches ; which height answers exactly to 

 sixteen hands, the growth that few horses 

 arrive at : but then, with this length of 

 legs, its neck was remarkably short, no 

 more than twelve inches ; so that, by strad- 

 dling with one foot forward and the other 

 backward, it grazed on the plain ground, 

 with the greatest difficulty, between its 

 legs : the ears were vast and lopping, and 

 as long as the neck ; the head was about 

 twenty inches long, and ass-like ; and had 

 such a redundancy of upper lip as I never 

 saw before, with huge nostrils. This lip, 



