Gedling Tidy. 117 



they got to go underground, could scarcely be kept above 

 the surface. The son of old Brockenhurst Rally, who 

 distinguished himself during a run with the Belvoir two 

 seasons ago, must have been one of the precocious variety. 

 He was only about seven months old when the above 

 hounds ran a fox to ground in a drain near to where the 

 puppy (belonging to the Messrs. Clarke), was being 

 reared. Without any preparatory lesson, when asked to 

 do so, the pup speedily followed reynard through all the 

 sinuosities of a long drain, ultimately bolting him, and this 

 much to the delight of the field. Mr. A. H. Clarke also tells 

 me that some few years ago he had a tan marked bitch, 

 " Gedling Tidy," who ran for seven seasons with the South 

 Notts hounds, and was so staunch to fox that she would 

 never look at ground game of any kind. By no means 

 was it unusual for this bitch, when hounds were at fault, to 

 work out a cold line, and actually lead the pack across the 

 first field, when, scent becoming warmer, of course the 

 hounds soon left their little friend in the rear. 



No doubt Tidy was a bitch far beyond the ordinary 

 standard, and when she died she bore the hall-marks of her 

 excellence. Still, any one who has kept and worked 

 terriers will be able to enlarge upon equally doughty deeds 

 their favourites have accomplished. I was once offered a 

 good looking bitch, whose excellences were pointing 

 partridges and retrieving them when shot. Some of my 

 own have often been found useful on a grouse moor late 

 in the season, working within twenty yards, and preventing 

 the sly old cocks running back and getting up with a 

 11 whirr " and a " beck-beck " behind you. Many a 

 pheasant, too, has my little white dog Grip found ; and 

 to see his stumpy tail going from side to side was a 



