. ... Landseer : a collection of fifteen pictures and a portrait of the painter. and, dating from the early days of semi-barbarism,when the only serious pursuits of the rich werewar and the chase. The forest laws of the old Nor-man kings set the punishment for killing a deer,except in the chase, as great as for taking a humanlife. Large tracts of land were reserved for huntinggrounds in districts which might otherwise havebeen covered with prosperous villages. Down toour own times, a large pack of hounds was main-tained by the English crown solely for the use ofroyal hunting parties. At length
. ... Landseer : a collection of fifteen pictures and a portrait of the painter. and, dating from the early days of semi-barbarism,when the only serious pursuits of the rich werewar and the chase. The forest laws of the old Nor-man kings set the punishment for killing a deer,except in the chase, as great as for taking a humanlife. Large tracts of land were reserved for huntinggrounds in districts which might otherwise havebeen covered with prosperous villages. Down toour own times, a large pack of hounds was main-tained by the English crown solely for the use ofroyal hunting parties. At length, at the beginningof the twentieth century, the new king, Edward VII.,has abolished the custom. It would seem that the deer was well fitted bynature to cope with his enemy the sportsman. Hissenses are so exquisitely delicate that he detects theapproach of the hunter at a great distance. As soonas he takes alarm he flees from the danger, coveringthe ground in flying leaps with incredible time to time he pauses on some hilltop tolocate anew the position of the THE HUNTED STAG 71 As he begins to tire, he resorts to stratagem as asubstitute for speed. Sometimes another deer comesto his aid, taking the track he has made, while hehides in some thicket or flies in a different of his tricks is to run backward over his coursefor a number of yards, and then leap aside to startin another way. The story of the Sandhill Stagtells how a. deer used this device three times in suc-cession, the last time returning to a thicket near histrack from which he could discern his pursuer longbefore the trail would bring him too near. Afterthis, grown more desperate, the stag circled roundtill he joined his old track, and then bounded asideto let the hunter follow the cold scent. When all such artifices fail, the hunted deers lastresort is the water. Plunging into a lake or moun-tain stream, he swims up the current, taking carenot to touch any brush on the bank, lest he l
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1901
