68 British Dogs. 



brilliant. But his faith in the 23in. Brocklesby Eallywood did good 

 service to the Belvoir kennel ; and when he laid down his horn in 1859 

 he left a pack of hounds which, for matchiness in size and colour, as also 

 for steadiness and working qualities, has rarely, if ever, been equalled. 

 His last advice to Ben Morgan was ' hold by the Alfred sort ; they are 

 such close workers, and have got me out of many a difficulty.' 



" Will Derry, like Ben Morgan, preferred gay, raking hounds of the 

 24in. stamp, and both men were quick and clever in the field, and great 

 killers of foxes. Nothing delighted Ben so much as to get on the trail 

 of a good fox that would take them over the Holderness or the York and 

 Ainsty frontier, and nothing short of failing scent or closing darkness 

 would prevent his being brought to book. Both Derry and Morgan were 

 hard riders, and proved the truth of the axiom that ' If welter weights 

 break horses' backs, light weights break horses' hearts.' 



" Puppies are mostly whelped during the spring months, and, as soon as 

 able to take care of themselves, they are taken out to quarters amongst 

 the farmers, where they lead a dolce far niente sort of life, and are 

 fetched in about the next February, when the lambs begin to drop. On 

 their return they are branded with the initial of the hunt, and their 

 ears are shortened by rounding off the points, to prevent them dipping 

 into the feeding trough, and thus becoming coated and greasy, which 

 would induce canker on the edge of the ear. Each now receives a 

 name, and their education begins in good earnest being constantly 

 schooled into submission and confidence for even Tom, the whip's, 

 manner of rating a delinquent is open, decisive, cheery, and instructive, 

 and in marked contrast with Whistle, the head-keeper's bullying and 

 degrading appeal to a recalcitrant pointer, which oftener results in a fit 

 of either the shivers or the sulks than in any knowledge of the fault 

 committed or the duties required. 



" The beautiful manner in which the Quorn entries behaved at the late 

 Yorkshire Hound Show at Skipton was worth a day's journey to witness 

 especially in the case of Alice, the winner in the unentered bitch class 

 coming up to every call and turning to every wave of Tom Firr's 

 hand, true as the magnet to the pole. 



" Some of the hard riding Holderness farmers, whose hearts are in the 

 sport, are proud of being trusted with a favourite bitch before she pups, 

 when for her accommodation and comfort they cut a hole in the bieldy 



