32 FOX-HUNTING 



traces back to one of his strain. This brings us 

 within the radius of the fox-hound stud-book, 

 which work I recommend to the attention of 

 those interested in the matter. I have already 

 said nearly every large landed proprietor kept 

 hounds, and hunted on his own estate or that 

 of a friend ; but there was no definition of country 

 as we know it now. The Bilsdale claims to be 

 the most ancient pack in existence, and though 

 the date of its origin is very uncertain, I think the 

 claim has been generally allowed to be correct. 

 Bilsdale is a picturesque valley, a cleft in the 

 heather-clad Yorkshire hills, and it was here that 

 hunting fox with the beagle gave them the idea of 

 pursuing the animal in a more ambitious way. 

 Finding the beagles too fast to be followed on 

 foot in a straight run, they who possessed horses 

 would ride, and then they would find the beagles 

 too slow for the horses : thus gradually larger 

 hounds were procured, and what at first had been 

 merely a duty of extermination, became a most 

 delightful and exciting pleasure. The Bilsdale 

 hounds were a trencher-fed pack for a great many 

 years, but I hear lately kennels have been built, 

 and the primitive style has been abandoned. 



