OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 113 



' shielin wast,' and throw a sack over him. In the 

 meantime I have, within the last few days, had very 

 good news of otters hereabout." ' 



" April ze^th, 1895. 

 " The otter-hounds had a grand day from Brocic 

 Hall, near Weedon, on Tuesday — three-mile drag, two 

 and three-quarter hours' swimming work, killing a dog 

 otter of twenty-two pounds at the end of it." " 



" May 6th, 1895. 

 " The otter-hounds were here on Saturday, but did 

 not find till they got to Wadenhoe. The water is too 

 high and too thick to do any good, and they could 

 not hunt a bit. They met this morning at Elton Mill 

 to draw up the Fotheringhay brook, and were to go to 

 Stamford to-night." ' 



But hunting the otter, as we have already seen from 

 Lord Lilford's own words, yielded one place in his estima- 

 tion to falconry — ' the noble mysterie ' as he was wont to 

 speak of it, using the phrase of an old writer. The 

 allusions in his correspondence to the beautiful art of 

 training falcons, are for the greater part of too technical a 

 character for the general reader. We, therefore, attach but 



1 To Walter M. Stopford, Esq. 

 ^ To the same. 

 ' To the same. 



