Htmting the Wild Stag. 



71 



having attacked these hounds, by which five couples 

 were lost, and the efficiency of the pack seriously 

 diminished, so much so as at one time to have en- 

 dangered the prospects of the present season, 

 Mr. Bissett had to seek amongst the crack 

 packs of the country for drafts of full-sized hounds 

 to recruit his. How well he has succeeded may be 

 seen by inspection of the twenty-seven couples, all 

 young hounds, which appeared at Cloutsham on the 

 first day of the season. Of the old hounds, which 

 are kept and will be hunted separately, I shall have 

 an opportunity of speaking in my next letter, as I 

 intend to ride with them, and hope subsequently to 

 visit the kennels, and to give fuller particulars of 

 their present condition, as well as some details of the 

 baleful malady which for a while threatened to 

 interfere seriously with the sport of the Devon and 

 Somerset Staghounds. 



