Hunting in England 133 



estates have gamekeepers who rear and put out thousands of 

 pheasants, partridges and grouse. Rabbits and hares are plen- 

 tiful nearly everywhere. On this account English-bred foxes 

 have always plenty of food at hand, while in the States a fox 

 must travel a great distance to obtain a meagre living. English 

 foxes come up in daily sight of gamekeepers and others who are 

 most careful not to disturb them. American foxes on the con- 

 trary are as wild as possible. They are hardened to travel 

 and have found in their wide going about every available 

 spot of safety. On these accounts they are rarely run into and 

 never will be until we have earth stoppers to locate them and 

 plenty of rabbits and other game for them to eat. 



The writer has often been asked where to go to see the most 

 interesting sport in following the chase. From his limited 

 knowledge he would suggest the follo^ving: 



Reach England by August 1st. Have a day at least with 

 the Essex otterhounds, headquarters at Chelmsford. Then 

 locate at the Peacock Inn, Belvoir near Grantham, for a visit 

 to the famous castle and kennels and a week's cub hunting with 

 the finest pack and the best new entry hounds in the world. 

 Then go to ]Minehead, Somerset, for the opening meet of the 

 Devon and Somerset staghounds, about August 15th. There 

 will be seen four or five hundred riders and about as many 

 pedestrians at the meet, which is always at Cloutsham. The 

 mount must be engaged sometime ahead. Then on the way 

 back to London have a day in the Quantock Hills from Taun- 

 ton, hunting the wild red deer. By tliis time the fox hunting 

 season is open. Then fly away to the opening meet of the 

 Quorn, which is always at Kirby Gate. Opening meets as a 

 rule are, on account of the crowd, to be avoided, but any hunt- 

 ing man visiting England should not fail to see the show. 

 After a week with the Quorn, settle down at Melton Mowbray 

 or Oakham or Leicester, and have a day with the Pytchley, 

 Atherstone and Cottesmore. Then try a week with Lord 



