66 HUNTING 



rings all day. And, as the gallop seldom lasts more 

 than a couple of hours, it follows that much less land 

 is crossed than when foxhounds meet at 11 a.m. and 

 remain out till four or five in the afternoon. Thus it 

 will be seen that in the home counties, where for many 

 years the carted deer has found his headquarters, stag- 

 hunting can be indulged in without serious damage to 

 the farmer, though fox-hunting would be so ruinous as 

 to be wellnigh impossible, though, of course, in parts 

 of the home counties we find good fox-hunting and 

 wild scenery. Indeed " Brooksby " stated only in 1880 

 that the wild stag might be allowed to roam between 

 Aldershot and Windsor, and be trusted to do no more 

 harm than on the hills of Devon and Somerset. 



To the man who hunts to ride, whether he be a 

 novice or an old stager, few things are more enjoy- 

 able than a gallop after the Queen's or Lord Eotlis- 

 child's hounds. The etiquette, at all events with the 

 Queen's, is to ride in pink; and Lord Coventry, the 

 present Master of the Buckhounds, is desirous that 

 this rule of etiquette should be obeyed, if only out 

 of compliment to an ancient, royal, and national insti- 

 tution, which nominally provides its followers with 

 sport for nothing. We say nominally, for the novice 

 who hunts from London with the Queen's will find 

 his training expenses heavy, and his hunting will cost 

 him quite as much as if he lived in the country and 

 subscribed to the local pack. But money, and the want 

 of money, are generally matters for after-consideration 

 with the hunting man, who, in the excitement of a run, 

 only says, "Hang the expense!" — the word is not 

 always "hang" — if black care sits behind him in the 

 pigskin. We must warn the novice who hunts with 

 the Queen's, however, not to join that band of men 



