RUTTING TIME—commences the latter end of August, and continues to the first and second week in October; during which both the STAG and BUCK assume a degree of courageous boldness in approaching man, that they never display at any other time of the year. At this season their necks swell; they range from one place to another incessantly, in seeming search of some object to attack; the voice of the stag is loud and alarming, to those who have not been accustomed to hear it. When opposed, they are so exceedingly strong and ferocious, that no common force can stand against them: they attack an individual in RUTTING TIME with a _certainty_ of success. Some few years since, the LOCKSMITH who inspected the _gate locks_ of Windsor Great Park weekly, was pursued by a stag, and when within a few yards of him, most luckily escaped by climbing a small tree, where he was kept in jeopardy near twenty-four hours, till the next day the stag made a retreat upon the accidental approach of the keepers. A short time after which, a girl, about fourteen years of age, passing through Hackwood Park, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire, (and having on a red cloak,) was attacked by one, the oldest inhabitant of the district, who literally not only perforated her body with his ANTLERS in almost every part, but extended his fury so much to her apparel, that the melancholy spot was covered with rags; and the corpse so maimed and disfigured, that it retained but little of the appearance of a human frame.
SADDLE—is the well-known mechanical construction formed for the mutual accommodation and safety of both the HORSE and the RIDER. Although historical records prove them to have been in use with the ancients, there is no demonstrative reason to believe they were established in England till the reign of HENRY the SEVENTH, when they were adopted under a compulsory law, that the nobility should not ride without them. Saddles are of different sorts, according to the distinct services for which they are designed; and, in fact, are so universally known, not only in the aggregate, but in all their component parts, that any elucidation upon so common a subject; must be evidently superfluous and unnecessary.
SADDLE-BACKED.—A horse is so termed, when the RUMP-BONE rises so high behind, in conformity with the WITHERS before, that a hollow (or rather a complete curve) is formed in the middle, as a natural receptacle for the Saddle. Horses of this description are mostly, in action, easy and pleasant to the rider; but they are invariably weaker in the loins than those of an opposite description.