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BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[March
hunting and hints that he had
no aversion from a comfortably
established outlyer. Nevertheless,
four seasons is a long holiday
for a stag. This period has
been enjoyed by a deer enlarged
by the K.D.Gs. before their regi-
mental hounds in Norfolk, only to
be taken by the 5th Hussars on
January 23rd of this year. This
good deer defied the huntsman of
The Black Horse on several occa-
sions. The 7th Hussars had to ride
hard for twenty miles before they
got their quarry. On the 27th,
however, they uncarted an untried
hind which successfully eluded
them and was left out after a very
severe run, so they are no gainers.
The second case was with Mr.
Greene's hounds. After a fair
morning's sport, the master got
" Khabar " of one of his outlying
hinds. In a small covert near
Rougham they found her*, and
with every hound speaking to the
line, drove her out. The run was
fair steeplechasing for an hour,
and panting horses and riders
were scattered all along the line
of the chase, but the scent served
throughout, hounds were never
far from their deer, and she was
finally captured in Bardwell Vil-
lage. This was a great week for
the staghounds, for on the Thurs-
day the Ripley and Knaphill
Harriers, a sporting little pack
which hunt part of the wild
country round Guildford and
Godalming, went to look for an
out-Iyer near Lord Pirbright's
house. Hounds soon struck the
line, and for five hours and forty
minutes held to the line, travelling
over thirty miles and being beaten
by darkness at last, when Mr.
Echlin (the master) had to give
her up. Those who know the
country, rough and wild as it is in
parts and noted for its trappy fences,
will not undervalue the perform-
ance of these game little hounds,
which, by the way, are a very neat
pack of Dwarf fox-hounds.
Resignation of Major de
Freville. — It is much to be
hoped that the people who have
given it as their opinion that
Major de Freville might improve
upon his manner of keeping up
the Cotswold Hounds are large
subscribers. However, their criti-
cism has only had the disastrous
effect of causing the master to
announce his resignation ; nor
could he be induced to alter his
mind, and one is glad to learn
that at present there is no chance
of his giving way unless he is
provided with a much amplified
subscription. It is a fitting
protest against the fussiness of
some people who fancy that they
are justified to whole manage-
ment of a hunt to which possibly
they gave but a nominal sum.
The Major has had the Cotswold
country for six years, and during
that time has succeeded in
pleasing quite as many people
as a master can hope to please.
Mr. Elwes, the chairman of the
meeting, who spoke with a forty
years' knowledge of the hunt,
praised the Major's services and
said that no one could have
shown better sport; the farmers
are exceedingly partial to him,
and so are the field as a rule.
Good and experienced masters
are not so plentiful now that
hunts can afford to let them go
too easily, and it must be rather
annoying to a master who does
his best, to be criticised Buy Copegus by some-
one who never had any experi-
ence of the difficulties of carrying
on a hunt. The Major's services
have been so much appreciated,
however, that he is to be pre-
sented with a testimonial, and
£go was promised in the room
before the meeting broke up.
Other Changes. — Mr. Port-
man is already weary of the
1899]
"OUR VAN.
ii
227
difficulties of the Taunton Vale.
Lord Southampton, the well-
known No. 2 of the Freebooter
team, is chosen as master of
the Woodland Pytchley. Every
reader of Baily knows that he has
been a most successful deputy-
master of the Warwickshire. This
last-named pack have had a series
of misfortunes. The doctors have
finally forbidden Lord Willoughby
to hunt hounds himself. Jem
Cooper, K.H., the second of the
name who has won credit in the
annals of hunting, is on the shelf
with an injury to his back, which
has interrupted a hitherto success-
ful career as huntsman. Yeo,
from the Shropshire, takes his
place at Kineton. Bonner, of the
Meynell, has resigned the horn,
and wishes for a new place.
Walter Keyte has been appointed
huntsman of the Quorn, he, like
his predecessor, having never
served as first whipper-in. Mr.
Hargreaves is resigning the Cat-
tistock and Captain Harrison the
East Gal way.
• Poultry. — This is a threatening
question in some hunts, indeed it
seems likely to be almost as se-
rious as wire or pheasants. The
attention of the writer has been
called to some very minatory
letters in a contemporary dealing
with poultry, on the subject of
hunting, and advocating certain
methods of trapping foxes. Both
the methods suggested are likely
to bring trouble on those who
practise them, but it is the spirit
which is serious. In some dis-
tricts poultry farming and poultry
fancying are become common
interests. No matter how often
our friend Mr. Tegetmeier demon-
strates the hopelessness of making
hen-farming pay, still the will-o'-
the-wisp attracts. The blame of
failure is laid on foxes, or any-
thing indeed except the inherent
difficulties of the work. The case
of the fancier is more serious,
because to hunt secretaries a hen
is a hen, and nothing more, and
the uninitiated do not know the
gulf which separates the useless
bird which will not lay and which
you cannot fatten, from the useful,
necessary, barn-door bird. The
price of the fancy bird is estimated
in guineas, the latter in shillings.
Yet facts are facts, and I am
afraid we must take cognizance
of the existence of fancy poultry.
What is suggested here is that in
these exceptional cases the birds
should be valued by a competent
person before each season and
their Copegus 200 Mg loss made good on a fairly
liberal scale when the hunt secre-
tary pays out his poultry fund.
If it be said that this is laying a
new burden on the funds of the
hunt, we cannot deny it, but it
must be faced. On the other
hand* a fair valuation of the
poultry in each division of the
hunt while they are alive would
probably be an invaluable guide