THE STAG-DOG. 127

and after following for about a mile the track which the
depredator had taken, he came at last to a heap of furze
fagots belonging to the family of a cottager. The woman
of the house attempted to drive the dog away, but was pre-
vented; and on the fagots being removed a hole was dis-
covered in the ground, which contained the body of a
sheep that had recently been killed, and also a considerable
quantity of salted meat. The circumstance which renders
this account the more remarkable is, that the dog was not
brought to the scent until more than sixteen hours had
elapsed after the man had carried away the sheep.”
The Stag. “The stag hound,” says Colonel Smith, “was a

Hound. large stately animal, equal or little less than the
blood hound, and originally, like that race, slow, sure, cautious
and steady.” “The modern hound is perhaps still handsomer,
though somewhat smaller; and the breed having been crossed
with the fox hound is now much faster.” The stag hunt
having declined in public favour they have ceased to be bred
in packs for hunting purposes.

ABStag- “Many years since,” says Captain Brown, “a very

Hunt. large stag was turned out of Whinfield Park in the
county of Westmoreland, and was pursued by the hounds
till, by accident or fatigue, the whole pack was thrown out
with the exception of two dogs which continued the chase.
Its length is uncertain, but the chase was seen at Red Kirk
near Annan in Scotland, distant by the post road about forty-
six miles. The stag returned to the park from which he had
set out, so that considering the circuitous route which it
pursued, it is supposed to have run over not less than one
hundred and twenty miles. It was its greatest and last
achievement, for it leapt the wall of the park and immedi-
ately expired; the hounds were also found dead at no great
distance from the wall which they had been unable to leap.
An inscription was placed on a tree in the park, in memory
of the animals, and the horns of the stag, the largest ever