roused the game in the coverts, which was then driven by shouts and barkings towards the place where the net was set.  If it once entered within the two extremities of the net (a b, [PLATE CXXIII., Fig. 1]), its destruction was certain; for the beaters, following on its traces, occupied the space by which it had entered, and the net itself was not sufficiently visible for the deer to rise at it and clear it by a leap.

[Illustration:  PLATE 123]

In the chase of the ibex or wild goat, horsemen were employed to discover the animals, which are generally found in herds, and to drive them towards the sportsman, who waited in ambush until the game appeared within bowshot. [PLATE CXXIII., Fig. 3.] An arrow was then let fly at the nearest or the choicest animal, which often fell at the first discharge. [PLATE CXXIII., Fig. 4.] The sport was tame compared with many other kinds, and was probably not much affected by the higher orders.

The chase of the gazelle is not shown on the sculptures.  In modern times they are taken by the grayhound and the falcon, separately or in conjunction, the two being often trained to hunt together.  They are somewhat difficult to run down with dogs only, except immediately after they have drunk water in hot weather.  That the Assyrians sometimes captured them, appears by a hunting scene which Mr. Layard discovered at Khorsabad, where an attendant is represented carrying a gazelle on his shoulders, and holding a hare in his right hand. [PLATE CXXIV., Fig. 1.] As gazelles are very abundant both in the Sinjar country and in the district between the Tigris and the Zagros range, we may suppose that the Assyrians sometimes came upon them unawares, and transfixed them with their arrows before they could make their escape.  They may also have taken them in nets, as they were accustomed to take deer; but we have no evidence that they did so.

[Illustration:  PLATE 124]

The hare is seen very commonly in the hands of those who attend upon the huntsmen.  It is always represented as very small in proportion to the size of the men, whence we may perhaps conclude that the full-grown animal was less esteemed than the leveret.  As the huntsmen in these representations have neither nets nor dogs, but seem to obtain their game solely by the bow, we must presume that they were expert enough to strike the hare as it ran.

There is no difficulty in making such a supposition as this, since the Assyrians have left us an evidence of their skill as marksmen which implies even greater dexterity.  The game which they principally sought in the districts where they occasionally killed the hare and the gazelle seems to have been the partridge; and this game they had to bring down when upon the wing.  We see the sportsmen in the sculptures aiming their arrows at the birds as they mount into the air [PLATE CXXIV., Fig. 21,] and in one instance we observe one of the birds in the act of falling to the ground, transfixed by a well aimed shaft.  Such skill is not uncommon among savage hunting tribes, whose existence depends on the dexterity with which they employ their weapons; but it is rarely that a people which has passed out of this stage, and hunts for sport rather than subsistence, retains its old expertness.