THE GREEN SPRING VALLEY 



to this, hounds are out all day on holidays and for a fortnight in Novem- 

 ber they meet six days a week and hunt all day, as during this time most of 

 the members of the Hunt take a vacation and put in two weeks of solid 

 hunting. 



Foxes are fairly plentiful, and the two or three blank days during a season 

 come so far apart that the continuous good sport is hardly interrupted. On 

 the other hand, there are many earths in the country, and as stopping is im- 

 practicable, many of the foxes found get to ground, and only a small per- 

 centage are killed in the open. However, to anyone really fond of fox- 

 hunting, and who cares enough about the sport to enjoy hearing and seeing 

 hounds at work, the days are full of genuine pleasure. 



The greater portion of the country contains many large woodlands, and 

 hounds would often be lost were they not very free of tongue. Often, however, 

 in the best part of the country, they force a fox mto the open, where the 

 galloping is good and the jumping clean, and give the Field the finest kind 

 of a run. 



As the Green Spring Valley pack is one of the best known in the coun- 

 try, the authors append accounts of several runs (kindly furnished them by 

 the Master), from which, perhaps, a better idea of the country and the char- 

 acter of the hunting can be obtained than from any description. 



"November 18th, 1895. Met at Brick School House at 9 a.m. Found a 

 large fox about 1 o'clock just west of the railway. Viewed away by the 

 Field, he ran to the right of Glyndon, and to the Worthington Valley, where 

 the pack split, part of it crossing the valley and the rest of it turning back 

 toward the point where the fox was found. 



"As 'Logan,' one of our best hounds, was in the latter division, we followed 

 them. Fox ran straight southeast for about four miles, where, being headed 

 from his point by some gunners, he turned east and was pulled down in a 

 bit of woodland, after about an hour and ten minutes of running. Those of 

 the Field who had followed the other part of the pack got forty-five minutes 

 of galloping, over a beautiful country, eventually putting their fox to ground. 

 Thirty-four in the Field. 



" October 3rd, 1 896. Met at the kennels at 2:30 p.m., using ten couples 



52 



