The huntsman spoke of the stag's blenches and ruses when alluding to the tricks of a deer when trying to rid himself of the hounds, of his doubling and rusing to and fro upon himself when he retraced his steps, of his beating up the river when he swam up-stream, and of foiling down, when he went down-stream, or of going to soil when he stood in water. When the deer lay down he was quat, when he stood still in covert he was stalling. When he was tired he "cast his chaule" i.e. drooped his head, a well-known sign when the deer is done, as was his closed mouth when dead beat.
The hart was meved or moved, when he was started from his resting-place; he was quested or hunted for, and sued or chased; his resting-place was called his ligging or lair, his scent of line of flight, his fues. He was spoken of as soule or soile (F. seule) if unaccompanied by other deer, and in "herd with rascal and folly" if keeping company with lesser deer.
Besides many other quaint terms of venery the following were the designations given to the hart according to his age by:—
| "Master of Game." | Twici, "Boke of St. Albans," Manwood, Turbervile. | Blome; Cox's "Gentleman's Recreations." | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st yr. | A calf. | A calf. | A hinde-calf or calf. |
| 2nd " | A bullock. | A brocket. | A knobler or knobber. |
| 3rd " | A brocket. | A spayer, spayard, or spayd. | A brocket or brocke. |
| 4th " | A staggart. | A staggart or stag. | A staggard. |
| 5th " | A hart of ten. | A hart. | A hart. |
Until he was a hart of ten our text tells us he was not considered a chaseable or warrantable deer. By the above one will see that the "Master of Game" is exceptional in calling a deer of the second year a bullock, brocket being the usual term.
In old French literature we occasionally find the word broches used for the tines of a deer's antlers; brochet would be the diminutive, i.e. a small tine, and hence perhaps brocket, a young stag bearing small tines. Any stag of ten or over if hunted by the king became a Hart Royal, and if hunted and not taken, but driven out of the forest, a proclamation was made to warn every one that no person should chase or kill the said hart, and he was then a "Hart Royal proclaimed" (Man., p. 180).
All stags not chaseable, such as young or lean stags and hinds, were classed as folly or rascal. A young stag accompanying an old one was called his squire (F. escuyer).
Hinds also were called by different names from the first to the third year, but the "Master of Game" does not give these, nor do any of the earliest works. Manwood, Blome, and Cox give the following terms: first year, a calf; second year, a Hearse or brocket's sister; third year and ever after, a hind. A somewhat similar term was employed in France to denote a young stag between six months and a year old. Haire, also spelt her (G. de Champgrand Baudrillard), and Harpaille, was the term for a herd of young stags and hinds.
Hart's Age.—The fable that a stag can live a hundred years which the "Master of Game" repeats (p. 34) after G. de F. was not of the latter's invention, but one that had been current for many centuries before their day.
—When the "Master of Game" was written hunting horns were the curved primitive shape of those made from the horns of animals, and most of them probably were still made of the horns of cattle, while those used by the richer gentry and nobles were fashioned from some rarer animals' trophy, such as the ibex, or carved of ivory, and some were made of precious metal. But whether of simple horn, ivory, or of wood, they were decorated with gold or silver ferrules, rings, and mouthpieces, and some being provided with a stopper, could be converted into drinking horns. Unfortunately the "Master of Game" does not tell us the material of which horns should be made. He simply says how they should "be dryve." They were to be two spans long (1 ft. 6 in.), slightly curved so that both ends were raised from three to four fingers' breadth above the centre; the larger end or the bell was to be as wide as possible, and the mouthpiece not too small. It was waxed thickly or thinly, whichever the huntsman thought produced the best sound. What effect the wax had can scarcely be judged, but it was evidently considered an improvement, as it is stated that for foresters "mene hornes and unwexid" are good enough for them. Besides the hunter's horn five different kinds of horns are mentioned in our MS.—the bugle, great abbots, ruets, small foresters, and mean horns. The bugle was not the trumpet we now understand by that name, but a simple curved horn, most probably deriving its name from the bugle, as the wild ox was called; although Dryden says from the German word bugel, a curve or bend. Ruets may have been the name for a much curved or almost circular horn, from French rouette, small wheel. The mean horns were probably the medium-sized, shrill-sounding horns made out of wood or bark, known as ménuels, menuiaux, moienel, menuier, &c. (Perc. 27,166 and 27,140).