106 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



ride very heavy, but with the coming of spring-time 

 and open weather there will be found many noted 

 packs which the ardent sportsman should not fail to 

 visit. No man will have completed his education 

 unless he has ridden to hounds in Yorkshire, and noted 

 the workmanlike style in which the thing is done in 

 that sporting county. 



The Bedale, consisting of forty- eight couples of 

 good hounds, hunt the country around Bedale, Thirsk, 

 Kipon, and Northallerton ; the master, Major F. H. 

 Dent, carrying the horn. The Earl of Zetland's pack, 

 consisting of fifty-five couples of stout, high-bred, 

 handsome hounds, hunt the district around Croft, 

 Tadcaster, Darlington, and Richmond regularly four 

 days a week. The kennels are at Aske Hall, near 

 Richmond, and the huntsman the well-known sports- 

 man, T. Bridger Champion. The far-famed York and 

 Ainsty makes up a quartet of first-rate packs, not to 

 be surpassed by any in the kingdom. 



Turning next to Lincolnshire, several crack packs 

 will be found : first and foremost the Brockelsby, of 

 which the Earl of Yarborough was the master. I 

 speak in the past tense, having been told that he has 

 retired ; but, as rumour is not always strictly correct 

 in its announcements, it is to be hoped that it has 

 erred in this case. This noted pack hunts four days 

 a week over the extensive district lying around Limber, 

 Brigg, Caistor, Grimsby, and Market Rasen. The 

 pack consists of fifty-three couples, and is hunted by 

 Alfred Thatcher. The Burton Hunt, the headquarters 

 of which are at Reepham, near Lincoln, can exhibit 

 fifty-seven couples of noble hounds, hunting four days 

 a week around Lincoln, Gainsborough, and Market 



