134 BILSDALE AND SINNINGTON. 



at Newburgh Park, by permission of Lord 

 Middleton, to whose country they really 

 belonsr. 



From the earhest period of the Hunt Club's 

 existence the hounds have been trencher-fed, and 

 the huntsman has mounted himself out of the 

 small stipend paid him (at one time nominally 

 £50 per annum, but in reality seldom reaching 

 tha,t amount), the whip, wlio received a smaller 

 salary, also finding his own horse. The Club 

 also inaugurated the season with an annual dinner 

 and a ball, and these good old customs are kept 

 up to the present day. 



The hounds are mustered on Mondays and 

 Fridays to be ready for their work on the ap- 

 pointed hunting days, and it is wonderful how 

 their instinct shows itself on these occasions. If 

 by some clinnce the hound should be away with 

 the farmer with whom he is quartered when the 

 huntsman calls for him, he seems to know what 

 has taken place, and trots off to the kennels at 

 Kirby at the earliest o})portunity : and after 

 hunting Las been stopped by frost a few days the 

 hounds will assemble at the kennels of their own 

 accord, apparently to see if all is right, and after 

 hanging about a bit will jog off to their respective 

 quarters. 



Of course with a trencher-fed pack there is 

 necessarily considerable irregularity in condition, 

 and in a long hard run hounds may 'tail' a little, 



