STAG HUNTING
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your correspondent seeks to show that the hunted stag— the carted stag—is indifferent to its pursuers. Can you find space for the other side of the picture ?
Last winter the carted stag was hunted across my fields. I was working with a man in a paddock adjoining this house, and the stag came and stood within ten yards of us for perhaps. -three minutes. We had taken the precaution of standing perfectly still, and were not observed by the stag at all, only, when it got wind of us, it moved off. I give it as an unhesi- tating opinion that the animal was greatly frightened and 'greatly' dititiessed.
It appeared tube completely out of condition—i.e., very fat ; it was " tongueing " ; that is to say, its tongue was hanging from a wide open mouth—a sure sign of physical distress.
If any reader has ever followed wild cattle in the Australian Bush he will know the signs when a beast is very near the end of its tether, and I can say that this stag was in a similar condition.
Later, the stag would have got into the house, or the garden, in an attempt to find some sort of sanctuary, but was
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