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Page 192 (numbered 188):-
nature, and certainly we see it best in these wilds where it
is not corrupted by familiarity; for all animals, tamed, or
attempted to be tamed, loose much of their native art and
sagacity; for if we had not tamed an horse and an ass, we
should not have had a mule, no more than a breed between the
red and fallow deer; and nature seems to abhor such
productions, because they are not suffered to breed again.
The buck gets a point to his horn every year; first the
brow-antlet, next the south-antlet, &c. one thing
however observe, that you are to count the points from the
far horn, to know the deer's age, for the horns are not both
alike; the doe breeds once a-year, but the hind only once in
two years. As every one of my readers may not know the
proper names for deer at their different ages, I shall here
recount them.
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OF RED DEER
| THE MALE. | THE
FEMALE. |
| The first year,
is | a
Calf, | A
Calf. |
| second, - | a Brockett, | A
Brockett's sister. |
| third, - | a Staggard, | A
Heinuse. |
| fourth, - | a Stag, | A
Hind. |
| fifth, - | a Stag at all points. | |
| sixth, - | a Great Stag. | |
| seventh, - | a Hart. | |
| eighth, - | a Hart of Grease. | |
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OF FALLOW DEER
| THE MALE. | THE
FEMALE. |
| The first year,
is | a
Fawn, | A
Fawn. |
| second, - | a Pricket, | A
Prick. |
| third, - | a Sorrel, | A
Sorrel's sister. |
| fourth, - | a Buck first head, | A Doe. |
| fifth, - | a Buck. | |
| sixth, - | a Great Buck. |
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Some have said that the buck not only gets new horns every
year, but also a new pizzle; when young I was taught to
believe so, but now know it to be false: the reason for such
a conjecture probably is, that after rutting time the
hair from that part groweth to the length of seven or
eight inches, and hangs down twisted like a cord till the
Spring, when they cast it, their horns, and * pens,
near all together.
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fox
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Foxes we have not many, owing to the pains the shepherds
take to destroy them: of their cunning it is unnecessary to
say any thing, as it is so well known, but their art in
catching of growse, partridges, and hares, many may be
surprised at: tracing one in the snow I observed him to have
made a stand, afterwards form a pretty large circle, then a
less, and so on till he made seven, when he made a leap to
where were many feathers, and blood of a growse; and by his
tumbling had certainly killed one there: therefore, I
conclude, that they have a nose like a pointer, and finding
the game, go round and round it, drawing a little nearer
every time, whilst the bird, not perceiving its nearer
approach, is taken; perhaps the head of the bird is a little
giddy by watching the circling motion of the fox. In like
manner they take hares and partridges: some of them are
fishers, but in what manner they kill fish I do not know,
but have found them laid for their cubs to feed upon, also
many kinds of small birds. Some foxes run when hunted a long
time, others not so much, as some hares. A remarkable
instance of one I shall here give the reader: A farmer of
the Duke of Norfolk's in Patterdale, went out one Saturday
afternoon a shepherding, his hound dog (Mountain)
followed him, and upon a mountain-side unkenneled a fox;
this was about two o'clock, and the farmer being busy did
not pursue them; the dog did not return home that evening,
nor was heard of till next day; when, as the people were
coming out of the church (Patterdale) the dog was just
passing it, hardly ever giving mouth, and the fox was about
forty yards before him; he made shift to get half a mile
further, when he run into a garden and laid him down under a
gooseberry tree; the dog was so fatigued that he lay down
beside him, without offering to lay hold of him, and a man
with a pitch-fork killed the fox: they afterwards heard that
the dog and fox had been at Rydal, and on the Saturday
evening at Wythburn, and at Legberthwaite on the Sunday
morning; they must therefore have run twenty hours †,
which at ten miles an hour is 200 miles: but I am willing to
believe that they run many more miles, as when seen at the
different places the dog was never far behind him, for no
one of those who saw them ever gave an account of them being
more than three or 400 yards distant. The dog was a very
swift one, and when they passed Patterdale church they were
above a footman's pace, yet all ran from the church, men,
women, and children. The owner of the dog is still living,
his name is Anthony Thompson: when that dog grew old, he
never run with the other hounds after a fox was unkenneled,
but took a road of his own, was generally in at the death,
and often had killed the fox before the other dogs came up,
unless the fox run directly to his holds.
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I have
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* The hair or coat of all deer in heraldry is called
Pens.
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† A longer chace than the stag mentioned in the
Countess of Pembroke's memoirs, (see p.3.)
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gazetteer links
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-- "Patterdale" -- (Patterdale (CL13inc)2)
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