70 NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR. 



gentleman, in fact, till his death, when the Duke of Buccleuch 

 and Mr. Ramsay,* each had part of it in addition to their home 

 countries. 



In 1833, Lord Elcho took Berwickshire, and on Mr. Ramsay 

 resigning East Lothian, the duke gave that county also up to 

 his lordship, who has his kennel at Amisfield, near Haddington, at 

 which place, as I have already stated, his residence" is. The ex- 

 act boundaries of these countries I am not able to fix ; and as I 

 was given to understand there had been some little difference of 

 opinion respecting them, I avail myself of the truism, that " the 

 least said is soonest mended." 



The following are the precise periods of Berwickshire being 

 hunted by Lord Elcho, as likewise of East Lothian. The hounds 

 commence the season with cub-hunting in the former county, 

 and then go back to East Lothian. On the first of November 

 they return to Dunse, and hunt Berwickshire to the 2Oth of De- 

 cember, when they go to their home kennel, and hunt East Lo- 

 thian to the first of February, when they return once more to 

 Dunse. On the 3oth of March they quit the Dunse kennel for 

 the home one, and finish the season in East Lothian. 



Of Lord Elcho's hounds it would be unnecessary for me to give 

 an opinion, were it not for the wish to have it recorded in your 

 pages, for it is merely the echo of that which passes current from 

 one end of Scotland to the other ; namely, that, making only a 

 reasonable allowance for the short time they had been together, 

 they more than answered every sportsman's expectations of them; 

 and this is not saying all that has been said in favour of them. 

 Nevertheless, candour, based on experience, and a wish to avoid 

 the imputation of bestowing praise beyond desert, calls upon me 

 to exclaim " Surely his lordship must have been highly fav- 

 oured in his purchase of drafts, as it is well known he com- 

 menced with a pinch out of every man's box !" I can with truth 

 assert, that no pack need be steadier than this pack was every 

 day I was out with them, and I more than once asked myself 

 the question: For what reason could some individual hounds 

 be drafted? as they appeared to me to unite all the qualities we 

 require in hounds ! " Wait five years," said a brother sports- 

 man to me one day, as I was offering a remark somewhat to this 

 effect. Verbum sat. 



But as I have before observed, the test of hounds is sport. I 

 am able then to report the proceedings of this young pack last 

 season in the field, which I derived from a source on which I can 

 rely. Previously to my visit to Dunse, they had had what is 



* Mr. Ramsay hunted the Dunse country two months in the year. 



