126 THE COLOUR OF HOUNDS : THOSE 



a steed spotted like Mr. Briggs' favourite, no 

 matter how good a performer he was known 

 to be. 



As to the utility of particular colours in hunters, 

 the reason that makes the modern military man 

 discard the grey as a charger is an argument, to my 

 mind, in favour of his use as a hunter — he can be 

 seen such a long way off. I recollect some years ago 

 having a capital run over a very wild and intricate 

 country on a very foggy day in Ireland, where, as a rule, 

 we are very little troubled by fog in the hunting 

 season. We went away from a covert on to a high 

 table-land in the Queen's County, where the mist lay 

 thick : the late kennel-huntsman of the Duhallow 

 carried the horn, and he was mounted on a marvellous 

 old grey mare that I never saw down at a fence. 

 Getting away, as usual, with his hounds, he crossed 

 the first road well in advance of us all. Being foggy, 

 it was a bad hearing day ; but some of us saw a ghostly 

 white shadow flitting on in front, and whenever it 

 disappeared we knew there was a fence. A brown or 

 a chestnut would have been invisible, but the fleeting 

 white shape guided us, and we heard the music at 

 last, and stayed in hearing of it to the end — stayed 

 till the music became loud and uproarious and we 

 found the pack baying round an earth. Then said 

 a friend to me, " A law should be passed compelling 

 all huntsmen to ride white horses." 



So it would appear that for one colour at least utility 

 may be claimed in the hunting-field, so far as horses 

 are concerned. 



Can the same be said of hounds ? Well, to a certain 



