EDITOR'S PREFACE xi 



Mr. Fellowes' hounds were of great size, and he 

 was proud of the readiness with which they turned 

 their attention to fox or deer as required. But 

 when Dulverton was visited for stag-hunting, the 

 utiHtarian principles of the Eggesford kennel were 

 severely criticised ; and it is feared that the versatile 

 hounds were even more catholic in their tastes than 

 their owner claimed for them. If Ur. Collyns was 

 of opinion that the temporary conversion of fox- 

 hounds into stag-hounds is fraught with some peril 

 to the moorland sheep, authorities of the present 

 day are certainly with him. 



As to the value of the statements made by the 

 author of the Chase of the Wild Red Deer, it can 

 scarcely be asserted that in the interval of forty 

 years any serious flaws, physiological or technical, 

 have been brought to light. The system of hunting 

 observed in the field is practically the same ; though 

 the remarkable degree in which the numbers of the 

 deer have been augmented has led the present 

 executive to resort, in 'tufting,' to tactics which 

 were unknown in the days when the master must 

 have counted among his primary cares anxiety 

 about rousing a warrantable deer in the course of 

 a day's hunting. On two points, however, experi- 

 ence has taught that no reliance can be placed 



